We're With You This Time
by X-RHODEN-X
Summary: Breaking a golden rule, he decided to tell them what his semblance was about. Not like they ever believed him anyways, and they were about to die. As he wakes up for the three thousandth time, Jaune Arc is drained of will. Nothing worked, and he always failed. He once again tries to manage it all by himself. Except this time he won't have to. This time, RWBY went back with him.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1 - Waking Up Again**

* * *

Ruby shielded her eyes as the bright flash of flame inched ever closer to her. She was certain it would be her end, yet it never hit. Roaring flames hitting something was what she instead heard. Her eyes opened to a nightmare.

Atop the CCT, Jaune Arc stood between RWBY and Cinder. His shield smoking, yet unmarred. He wasn't so lucky. His skin was burnt, possibly so badly that it fused his clothing with it. He was on one knee, shield arm useless as Cinder smiled, content to revel in her victory, all of them out of Aura.

"You dolt! Why would you stand in front of that attack for us?!" Ruby heard Weiss shriek, as she saw tears begin to form in the heiress's eyes. She wasn't ready to watch someone else die for her. She wasn't ready to die herself.

Ruby was battered and nearly broken, her Aura depleted, numerous cuts and burns inflicted on her previously untouched skin. How did this happen? They tried so hard, trained every day. Life was perfect in Beacon, all until this. This nightmare.

The Vytal Tournament was supposed to be something that would bring the Kingdoms together, a time of festivity. Yet she could only shake in horror at recalling how this woman… this monster, had manipulated the crowd to induce a Grimm attack on Vale, one that came accompanied with White Fang, rogue Atlesian robots and a massive Dragon Grimm that was perched on the side of the Tower, eying the five of them for dinner.

Now she was at her will's end.

Having followed Jaune as he tried to rally them to the top of the tower to fight Cinder, she wasn't prepared to be dragged into a battle for her life against an opponent so monstrously powerful that she made Ms. Goodwitch look tame. Ruby was despairing, and now she was forced to watch as her first friend at Beacon took short, shallow breaths and slowly slumped to the ground, his knee giving out on him.

She slowly crawled over to him, struggling to drag herself along the ground, her legs useless. Her body screamed, urging her to cry out in pain, and she did, ten minutes ago when Cinder first inflicted these wounds. But now her mind was numbed, something else possessing her as she reached Jaune.

Her tiny hand reached out and grabbed the sleeve of his shield arm, the only part of him that wasn't horribly burnt aside from his face. Her arm was numb, her muscles refusing to contract at her command. It took all her strength to pull him backwards and onto the ground where their eyes could meet.

He looked tired. Not shocked, not in pain, not afraid, nor defiant as the other members of her team were, but simply tired. His eyes held the same look she had come to fear, one that spoke volumes of resignation, the lack of any will to keep going.

Despite her body's demands, she opened her mouth to speak. The inside dry from the smoldering torture of heat they had been assaulted with.

"Why?" A simple question, one that had been plaguing her mind ever since she saw him at Initiation. "You act like you don't care… but then you do things like this… will you finally tell me why?"

Her question caused something to stir, his eyes conveyed that much. His gaze turned to her, and she noticed that the rest of her team had also managed to crawl in closer. Death being inevitable, they wanted the elusive answer to why he was such a mystery.

/-/

Jaune's breaths were short and shallow, yet they didn't stop him from sounding a dry laugh, one lacking in any warmth. He had failed… again. He had lost count as to whether it was the three thousand and forty-seventh, or the three thousand and forty-eighth failure. Repeats in which he had foolishly gotten feelings involved had a tendency of mucking up the count.

Whether through torture or imprisonment, he had learned the hard way that telling people of his semblance was a no-go. Yet Ruby's question was so innocent, so simple. If they were going to die anyways, there was no reason for him to hold out. Not like anything carried over from one life to the next, besides himself.

"Time travel." the words were soft spoken, yet their volume had not been an issue. RWBY had heard them loud and clear.

Their reactions were ones he had spent lifetimes trying to forget. Anger, scorn, ridicule, disbelief. Neither of those emotions suited the faces of the friends who were his only anchors in this never-ending nightmare. Long ago he may have been hurt at their refusal to believe him, but he had long since grown out of such pathetic feelings. Scant little stirred him anymore.

"I suppose I shouldn't have expected any better… you're ever the joker as always. Never a straight answer from you is there?" Weiss spoke. Her words more of a statement of fact than a question. The fear of death's imminent coming had left her.

"I'll have you know my parents thought comedy would be a good career choice for me." quipped Jaune. The ever present attempts at humour showing. One of the few coping mechanisms he had developed. If you can't beat it, make jokes about it.

"Alright playboy… let's assume I buy this load you're selling. How does it work? Time fairy come by and swoop you up? You show her your boarding pass?" Yang, she was always strong to the end. She never showed any fear when it came to her own death.

"More like she burns me… that or stabs, cuts, blows up, shoots, take your pick." The variety of deaths he had experienced was impressive, or he thought so at least. By this point he considered it a collection, one that was nearly full, yet could always be unexpectedly added to.

"That sounds like a horrible fate to put a side character through." Blake joked. Wait… Blake made a joke? That was rare. It brought a smirk to his face. Ignoring the jab that he was a side character of course.

"Yeah, well this _side character_ wants a raise, and a vacation." replied Jaune. He found it strange that they would take death so well. Yang and Blake usually took death well, although seeing Weiss so calm was a new experience for him.

"Right… I guess that explains everything about you." replied Ruby. Her tone wasn't sarcastic, neither was it angry. It was just… accepting. Strange, how long had it been since anyone had just believed him, no further questions asked? Then again, if anyone was that sort of person, it was Ruby Rose.

He gave her something he had forgotten was possible, a genuine smile that reached all the way up to his eyes.

The five of them were now laying closer together on the ground as Cinder coiled up for a final triumphant finishing blow. It had been a good run, one full of mistakes, ones he would take special care not to repeat, but it had also been one full of good memories. Memories of his friends showering him with the sickeningly sweet affections he had tried so hard to resist. He would normally ignore them on most lives, but this time? This time he had returned them. Granted it was near the end with not much time left, but it was still there.

The blast approached, a golden flame he knew all too well. Oh well, he had no regrets. It wasn't like any of this carried over.

They were grouped together unusually closely. That was another new experience for the collection.

He had never been killed at the same time as his friends.

* * *

He felt the telling pull from within, the sign that his semblance was kicking in. The familiar ethereal feeling of swimming through a strange river. Yet this time something felt heavier… that was strange. The feeling never changed across thousands of repeats. Was something wrong?

Jaune's eyes snapped open. It was something he couldn't really do anything about, over the thousands of repeats, no matter how hard he tried, no matter how much he focused before his death, his eyes always snapped open in the exact same manner every time. He wondered why exactly that happened. Was it a natural reaction to suddenly having a foreign soul take over your body? Did he evict another Jaune each time he came back? Was he in the same universe, or did it reset with him?

He shook his head and sat upright. These thoughts were ones he had hundreds of times, but he always chose to forget them. They were useless, after all, pondering this nonsense never helped solve anything, it never gave him any secret technique or insight. He sighed and looked to the clock.

Twelve o' clock noon, exactly one year before Beacon's Initiation. A time he always saw whenever he woke up. No matter how far he got, no matter how early he died, he would always wake up back here. Even if he were to kill himself this instant, he would find himself waking up on this date a few seconds earlier.

With practiced movements, he got off his bed, pulling his blanket off to the side. He went down to his house's kitchen, and packed a variety of supplies he'd need for his departure. Jaune knew for a fact that fate hated his guts, yet sometimes he couldn't help but silently thank it. The date he always woke up was the day his family was at a local fair, leaving the house empty, and his leave even easier. He had completely forgotten why his family had left him home, he didn't remember much from his first life, save that he was a sad case of failure.

As he finished gathering the supplies he'd need for travel, he turned to look upon Crocea Mors. The ancestral weapon had always stood by him faithfully. The one thing he could truly rely upon. Ruby might have poked fun at the classics, but there was no denying that they came through when you needed them most.

Ruby… now that was a painful memory. Someone who had actually believed him for once. Recalling that moment opened up a painful emptiness in his heart, the knowledge that he would never see the same Ruby again. He really needed to stop getting his feelings involved in his repeats, nothing good ever came of it.

With an exhausted sigh, he grabbed Crocea Mors off the wall and stepped out through the back door. He was tired, something which was natural after repeats in which he had gotten too attached. He wondered whether the exhaustion was his body's way of venting the negativity he had long since grown desensitized to.

He was out of will. The drive to move forward always left him after particularly painful lives. It'd take him a few dozen or so repeats to get it back.

If only there was something which could ignite it again, right away.

* * *

Her silver eyes snapped wide open. She was shivering all over, the memory of her death and the pain preceding it still fresh in her mind. Her attention was too focused upon her mind's desperate attempt to sync with her body. She felt no pain, yet the memory of it was so strong that she could swear the wounds were still present.

She managed to calm down enough to get a look around. Brown walls, paintings, a desk to her right. She couldn't believe it, she was back home on Patch. Was she in the afterlife? No, she couldn't be if such painful thoughts could haunt her. She was at a loss for words. She didn't doubt him when he mentioned his semblance, but to see it first hand? How was this possible?

She immediately shot up from her bed and sped over to her sister's room.

Ruby was surprised to see her sister staring at her, wide eyed, almost refusing to believe what had happened. Ruby watched as Yang slowly got up from her bed, walked towards her, and proceeded to pull her into a tight, crushing hug.

She would normally make a fuss, resist or whine, but now? She was content to return it. The two sisters held each other close for a while before reluctantly letting go. They had nearly lost one another, only to be reunited across time.

"This is crazy… how did we come back with him?" Ruby asked, no doubt in her mind that Jaune was the reason behind this. She looked to her older sister for answers, Yang always had a habit of reassuring her when she was down or confused.

Ruby could see Yang's eyes were stuck in a weird state of shifting between lilac and red, unable to make sense of what was happening to her. If Yang didn't have an answer, then who would?

"I don't know… was playboy really telling the truth? I can't believe this… we actually have a second chance now!" exclaimed Yang, her eyes finally deciding to settle on the color red. "I'm going to smash Cinder's face in this time!"

She never thought she'd be the one reining Yang in, but time travel had a tendency of throwing new cards into the game. "Yang no! We can't just do that right away… we're too weak and we don't know where to start." Ruby stated as she shook her sister by her shoulders. "We need to get to Beacon, and we need to form team RWBY… what if that never happens because of us messing around?"

Her point got through to Yang, her sister's eyes immediately shifting back to their usual color. Wasn't this supposed to be the other way around?

"Then what do we do? Just wait? Why not try and find Jaune?" Yang asked. Ruby considered the suggestion for a moment, before deciding it was too risky.

"If we leave Patch to find Jaune we might never get into Beacon. We don't even know where he is, he told us he ran away from home remember?" she lectured.

"Maybe we can't find playboy… but if you and me are back… then Blake and Weiss should be too! That's it! We can contact them!" her sister exclaimed.

"Yeah! I don't know how to call Blake… but if she's back then she'll call us, and we can call Weiss." she replied, the beginnings of a plan starting to form in her mind.

"So, what's our plan then sis? _You're_ the team leader of RWBY." Yang playfully teased as she poked a finger into her cheek. Yang could be so annoying at times.

"Reform team RWBY, find Jaune and kick Cinder's ass!" exclaimed Ruby, her spirits higher than the sky. She had a great feeling about all this.

"Wow… who taught you that language Ruby? Was it Jaune? I'm going to have a word with playboy when we find him." Ruby pouted as her sister said the words. Yang would never stop babying her, and she loved it.

"Who's Jaune?" a familiar voice asked from the door. Ruby froze as her father came into the room. Taiyang, blunt as always. "Do I need to be worried Ruby?" he asked with a smile. Ruby internally facepalmed.

"No dad it isn't like that! Jaune's just some…" her voice stopped, needing a quick excuse she looked around Yang's room, searching for anything to help fill the gap. Her eyes fixed upon a poster on the wall.

"He's just some band member I swear! I don't even like him!" Ruby quickly blustered out, a little too fast.

Ruby sent a death glare over to Yang who was wearing a shit-eating grin on her face. What she'd pay to strangle her right now.

"Oh… didn't know you were into bands Ruby… that's new." her dad muttered. "Well… if you ever want to see this Jaune, let me know where his next concert is, I'll see if I can get you tickets."

"Dad! I told you I don't think of him that way!" Ruby quickly defended. She turned around just in time to see Yang send their father an amused wink. Okay, Yang was losing a few strands of her hair later tonight.

"Mhm…" the only word that came out of Taiyang's mouth. Ruby despaired as he cocked a smile on his mouth and quietly left the room.

She tackled Yang onto the bed.

* * *

It had been a day since Blake ran from the White Fang encampment she woke up in. Her initial thoughts had been ones of fear, confusion, but later shifted to suspense and a strange sense of elation at having received another chance. It didn't take her more than a minute after waking up to conclude that Jaune was telling the truth, a fact which most of her rational mind still refused to believe.

Sneaking out of the encampment wasn't difficult for her, whether under daylight or night. As soon as she made her escape she traveled to Vale and got herself a room in the cheapest, out-of-the-way motel she could find.

Currently sitting upon a dinghy and suspiciously creaky bed, her thoughts raced to what her next course of action would be. If she came back… and Jaune's semblance caused it, then Jaune was here too. For a moment she considered attempting to contact him, yet the thought left her mind as soon as it entered. She recalled Jaune saying he ran away from home. Seeing no other way of contacting him, her mind next wandered to her teammates. That was it!

She wasn't alone when they died, and if she came back, then there was a good chance that her teammates did as well. Weiss was out of the question for now, since receiving a call from a random bootleg scroll would be regarded suspiciously by Schnee security. She instead decided that calling her partner would be the best course of action. She had memorized Yang's scroll details and knew that she was on Patch at this time.

With a tense sigh she began typing the numbers into her scroll and stiffened up as the call went through. A lone vestige of a tear formed in her left eye as she eagerly awaited the chance to talk to her old partner again.

She heard the familiar tune of a call successfully going through and tensed up, fully prepared for the possibility that this was not her partner. Her face appeared on the screen, her lilac eyes expressionless. She knew it… her partner had not come back with her.

"Wrong number sor-"

"You know you can take that bow off when it's just us right?" Blake's eyes widened as she heard the words. The tear finally dropping from her left eye, as a smile of joy overtook her face.

She saw Yang laugh loudly on the screen, no doubt her partner had to struggle to keep an expressionless face for the first few seconds. She felt the urge to throw the scroll out the window due to her partner's antics. Yang always had a habit of breaking her out of her guarded shell.

"You're insufferable!" Blake exclaimed, her tone full of emotion, something rare coming from her.

After she calmed herself, she saw her partner giving her a warm smile from across the screen. "I missed you too partner." Yang replied, relief evident in her voice to see Blake had come back with her.

"Is Ruby with you too?" Blake asked, curious to know whether their team leader had come back as well. If she did, then it all but confirmed Weiss being back as well.

"Yep, she's with me. Come say hi Ruby." Blake then heard muffled scuffling and cursing, from what seemed to be a conquest over who would hold the scroll. A moment later, her team leader's face popped up on screen, behind her was Yang scowling.

"Blake! Oh my god! I'm so happy to see you! How are you?! Where are you staying?! Did you eat anything? Do they have tasty fish? What about cookies?" The words were a jumbled mess, but then again, Ruby was excited to see Blake had come back.

"I'm well Ruby, I'm in a motel in Vale, I'll be grabbing a sandwich soon, and I don't think they have cookies." replied Blake with a smile as she saw her leader's face light up. Ruby was the literal glue that held RWBY together, sometimes Blake wondered whether the team would have held if it was anyone besides Ruby on their team.

"That's nice. So… you know about how we got back here right?" her leader asked. Blake nodded in response.

"Jaune's semblance? I'd have called him, but nobody knows where he is before Beacon." Blake replied, remembering how Jaune had always dodged the question of where he used to stay, and what he was doing. "But enough of that, even if we can't get in touch with Jaune, we still need a plan. You have a plan, right?"

"Yep! Reform our team, find Jaune and kick Cinder's… behind!" exclaimed Ruby. Blake facepalmed. How did she not expect her fourteen-year-old leader to come up with such a foolish plan?

"Ruby… we can't go around changing the timeline without Jaune's help. Anything we do will have effects… consequences… we need to play this safe." Blake lectured. Knowing Yang, she probably went along with Ruby's plan too. Without Weiss here, the only voice of reason was herself.

Blake watched as Ruby's face fell. The look didn't suit the young Rose, who was always the picture of joy and optimism. "Look… it's not a _bad_ plan, but it does need more details and a few restrictions." Blake quickly added, trying to cheer her up. "First, we can't make any big moves. If anyone else besides us finds out, bad things can happen. We can't tell anyone."

"Not even team JNPR?" Ruby asked, in that all too innocent tone which made Blake want to give her a hug, not that she'd ever admit it.

"No Ruby… not even JNPR… only Jaune, and in private." Ruby seemed far less enthusiastic, but still nodded in understanding.

"I bet she'd like to meet Jaune in _private._ " she heard a voice from behind Ruby. The voice promptly had a pillow thrown into its face.

Blake sighed, but couldn't help but betray a smile at the antics of her leader and partner. "Also, Ruby… we have to stick to the important parts of the original timeline. Which means you need to foil that Dust robbery, and we need to wait till after Initiation to confront Jaune."

"Okay… I guess I get it… say Blake?"

"Yes Ruby?"

"Did you find all this out from those weird books you read?" The question caught Blake off guard as she quickly glanced the other way.

"You mean all that smut she reads?" Yang quipped from behind. Blake was going to shave her bald if she made one more comment.

"Yang!" Blake exclaimed. "Not in front of Ruby!" Did Yang not care about her sister's innocence? Her warning took effect a moment later however, as Yang placed a hand over her mouth, realizing what she had done.

"Yang? What's smut?" her leader ever so innocently asked.

"Uh… it's uh… a very special and dangerous type of crime which people shouldn't talk about! Only the worst criminals do it!" Yang hastily replied. Blake resisted the urge to facepalm from the other side of the screen.

"Oh… so is that what Torchwick's wanted for? I'm sure he does smut all the time! I bet Cinder does smut too!" Ruby gasped in realization. "I think… Torchwick and Cinder do smut together! They're partners in smut!"

Blake couldn't have turned her scroll off faster. Yang was dealing with that.

* * *

Weiss gazed into the mirror in front of her. Various makeup kits, cosmetic items and beauty products on the table in front of her. Yet she discarded them all and had her manager cancel her performance. She claimed she was sick, not entirely a lie. She was sick of having to put on a show for everyone else. Most importantly, she was sick of her father's domineering influence.

Yet as she gazed into the mirror, she couldn't help but think how petty the concerns of her past life seemed in comparison to the knowledge she now possessed. That dunce Arc, was telling the truth. At first when she woke up, her reactions had been those of shock, awe and determination. Determination to change what once went wrong, the will to save everyone this time and to stand by that idiot Arc and help him fix everything. The more she thought about it however, the more she despaired. How could she ever defeat that woman… that monster?

Jaune's personality and mysteries suddenly cleared up with the revelation of his semblance. Yet they also revealed one clear thing. He had been trying for a very long time, yet he had failed. If he couldn't break the cycle, what hope did she have? Currently gazing into a mirror inside her personal changing room, she felt trapped. The Schnee security team would prevent her from leaving, and while she had no doubt that she could dispose of them and make her way to Vale, she had nowhere to go after.

She recalled Jaune's actions and behaviour every time they were in a fight. Careful and calculating. He allowed many things to happen despite the fact that he could've done something about them. Weiss now realized that it wasn't him being selfish, it was him respecting the timeline. Making sure he didn't change too much so that his foreknowledge became useless. Yet, her staying under her father's influence had little impact on her life. Whether she left now, or whether she stayed under him till Beacon, didn't matter. She would go to Beacon all the same.

She sighed as her scroll went off, another call from her father or manager no doubt. The number came from Patch. Odd, she had never been to that island, and thus, wouldn't expect any calls from there. Weren't Ruby and Yang from Patch? She had tried to contact them so many times, yet had her calls intercepted each time by her security detail. How could an unknown call get through anyways?

She picked up the scroll, the smallest trace of hope in her heart as she accepted the call.

Her eyes widened as the face of her leader and partner came up on screen.

"Ruby!? Y-you're here?!" she almost yelled. Her heart began to beat faster, the thought that she wasn't alone had hit her immediately.

"Weiss! I'm here! You won't believe what we had to go through to call you! We actually had to steal some rich guy's scroll to make the call." her partner exclaimed in that innocent and child-like voice she had grown to adore.

"But… how? Did Arc's semblance bring you back too?" Weiss asked, her head racing with thoughts and possible plans now that she confirmed someone else had come back with her.

"Yep! And you won't believe it, but Yang and Blake came back too!" Ruby cheered.

"Ice Queen! Woohoo! RWBY's back in business!" Yang yelled as she nabbed the scroll from Ruby.

Weiss's heart suddenly felt lighter. She wasn't alone anymore. She had a sneaking suspicion that she wasn't the only one who came back, and although she knew Arc did, she had no means of contacting either him or her team. Speaking to them again was the best part of her week.

"So, we're all back then? That's a relief…" Weiss muttered as she smiled to herself. "Do we have a plan? Please tell me you two didn't mess up the timeline too much."

"Have some faith partner, we have an awesome plan." Ruby reassured her. She found herself smiling at that. Her leader never failed to do that. "But first, we're going to get you out of there. Blake's waiting outside the theatre, can you make it out the backdoor?"

Weiss smiled. "Can I?" she huffed. "Have some faith partner." she served back at Ruby. She opened Myrtenaster's case and made her way out of her changing room.

* * *

Jaune was sitting in a bar. He was in a small settlement on the outskirts of Vale, a quaint little town, surrounded by wilderness. The perfect place to train himself before Beacon, after all, he always came here after running away each repeat.

He lightly nursed his drink, sipping it slowly as he stared at the TV screen on display at the bar. The news was unsettling to him. He had heard a few days ago that the White Fang's robbery of a train had occurred, but that had not worried him. What worried him was the witness reports stating how there had only been one assailant. What the hell had happened to Blake?

Now the news channel was on, hopefully he could find some sanity in watching the same old news.

 _"Thanks Cyril, what can you tell us about the situation?"_

 _"I'm currently at the Vale Royal Theatre, where the VPD have found several unconscious security near the backdoor, and what's most shocking, the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, Weiss Schnee, has gone missing."_

 _"Supposedly she also cancelled her performance at the Theatre tonight, leaving many ardent fans of her talent sorely disappointed. There's been questions-"_

Jaune tuned out the rest of the man's words. What the actual hell was going on? First the train robbery, and now this? It certainly wasn't anything Jaune had touched, and he was sure nothing else could have caused these massive changes. His head was racing with theories and explanations as to why this happened.

He didn't even know where Blake and Weiss were at the moment, so asking them was out of the question. Besides, he doubted a random stranger asking them questions would go over well with either of them. He had to remind himself sometimes that they didn't carry over like he did.

Something had changed on this repeat, starting from the familiar feeling of his semblance changing, to Blake's disappearance before the train robbery, to Weiss's supposed disappearance as well. Although if the wounds on the unconscious Schnee security were any indicator, Weiss had broken out of there herself.

He knew her father was domineering and controlled almost every aspect of her life, but why this? What in Remnant would possess her to suddenly lash out and escape from Jacques' grip? It never happened before in the past three thousand repeats, it had never even come close to that. Why now and why like this? These two questions were continually racing through Jaune's mind. He needed to find the answer to them.

But how could he? There was nobody on Remnant that knew the answer to why these two events had suddenly changed. He couldn't ask Blake or Weiss, they didn't know him, and he didn't even know where they were. Ozpin and Ironwood were out of the question, he didn't quite fancy interrogation and torture anymore. There was only one other person who might know. Someone privy to information and secrets that passed in and around Vale.

The fact that the guy had drinks was just a bonus.

* * *

Junior's club was a place Jaune had needed quite a few repeats to master. Usually whenever he decided to pop by and ask Junior something, he ended up getting into a fight with him, his two sultry enforcers and the rest of his henchmen. Then one repeat, Jaune decided that knowing how to exploit the place without getting into a fight every time would be worthwhile. He spent a few dozen repeats after that working for Junior, memorizing all the relevant bits of blackmail on him, and getting to intimately know Melanie and Miltia. Okay, the last part may have been an added bonus. He had to do _something_ to cope with the madness of his nightmare after all.

Jaune was in disguise, hood over his head, a bland mask over his face, and dark shades over his eyes, horribly stereotypical, but surprisingly it always worked. Maybe partly because nobody thought an idiot wearing something that noticeable would be up to something. He walked up to the bar and took a seat, the burly bartender eying him suspiciously, but deciding that he was likely a mentally deranged clown or junkie of some sort.

"Whatever's on the tap. Give Junior a holler for me too will you?" Jaune asked, as the burly man nodded, poured him a pint and proceeded to gesture something to one of the henchmen.

He lifted his mask just enough for his mouth to show, and calmly sipped his drink as Junior arrived behind the bar. The information broker eyed Jaune cautiously at first, but then with curiosity.

"What do you want? I don't care what those bums under the highway tell you, we don't sell drugs under the counter here." the man said to Jaune. One of the side effects of his clownish disguise after all. "But since you happen to know my name, I reckon you aren't just any junkie."

"Mhm… Roman sent me. He wants some info on the fight that went down at the Theatre last night. What do you know?" Jaune lied. It had become almost second nature to him when coming into Junior's. He usually had a variety of options when it came to getting info out of the man. Either lie and claim Roman sent him, blackmail him with secrets he had learned across many lifetimes, or just plain violence. He tended to pick the first option nowadays, it was convenient.

"How do I know Roman sent you? I'm pretty sure a fashionable guy like him wouldn't hire bums like you." Junior replied, not entirely buying Jaune's lie yet.

"Come on now Junior, don't be like that. Roman would be very hurt if he heard you were giving his guy a hard time. After all, it'd be a shame if he decided to ask for his money back on that loan he gave you." Checkmate. That was usually all he needed to say for Junior to buy it. On the few rare repeats in which he was a bit more stubborn? A casual reminder of his under the counter deals got him to fold.

Junior's eyes suddenly took on a far softer look. He forced a laugh. "I was just kidding, any guy of Roman's a guy of mine." Junior anxiously said. "Well… I had a contact near the backdoor of the theater last night, and would you believe what he told me? He says he saw the Schnee heiress getting into the sewers. He swore he saw a hooded figure leading her inside."

Jaune's mind took a plunge into an icy river with those words. A hooded figure? Who was this person? Weiss willingly went in with them too, so it certainly wasn't a kidnapping. Things just got a lot more complicated.

"Thanks Junior, keep in touch. Roman expects you at the Poker game on Wednesday." Jaune muttered, his mind focused on far more important thoughts. Who was the hooded figure and what did they want? He got up and left the bar, intent on taking the first Bullhead back to his training settlement.

As he walked down the streets of Vale he began to ponder on what he could do. There was nobody left to ask, no further leads he could follow, and no more avenues left to explore. He had hit a dead end for the first time in a few hundred years. He typically always, at the very least, had a vague idea of where to go. But now? He was stumped. This was dangerously new territory, and it happened without any warning or cause whatsoever.

Control. The one thing he always strived to achieve in every repeat. Yet this time, it was quickly escaping from his grasp. He realized was no longer in control of this particular situation. With a sigh he made way for the Bullheads. He did all he could. For now, he'd trust in Weiss and Blake to stay safe. Hopefully he'd see them again at Beacon.

* * *

"Try to ignore the suspicious creaking… and the fleas… and the stench." Blake nervously said, as she eyed Weiss's reaction to the dinghy motel room they were currently in. There was no way the heiress was going to take this well.

"It's fine, thank you for having me Blake."

The Faunus's bow dropped a few inches at the words. Weiss Schnee, pampered heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, was alright with this motel room? A room more suited to a sleazy one-time hookup than an actual night of sleep.

"Oh… uhm… don't mention it. We're teammates after all." Blake replied. Just how much more about Weiss did she not know?

"I heard Ruby say we have a plan, can I hear it?" Weiss asked. Ruby hadn't told her yet? Then again, briefing somebody right before an escape wasn't a good idea.

"Right, so you know that Jaune's semblance brought us all back?" Blake asked.

"Defying all laws of time and space, yes, it somehow did." Weiss replied. Blake inwardly thanked the creators. At least they were all on the same page in knowing how they got here.

"Alright then, our plan is to lay low till Beacon's Initiation. From there we try and maintain the original timeline as much as possible. After Initiation, we find and confront Jaune, and from there we'll work with him to change things." Blake explained.

She could see Weiss absorbing the plan and pondering on it. "That sounds like a good plan to me. Be honest… did you come up with it?"

"I may have… provided some minor guidance in its creation." Blake said, not wanting to undermine her leader's optimism.

"Right… let's leave it at that." Weiss said. "I get our overall plan, but do we have anything planned for now? We aren't staying here for the next year are we?"

Blake cringed at the thought of staying here for more than one night. "No, we'll be moving out tomorrow to a small settlement on the outskirts of Vale. It's a quaint little town that's near the wilderness, but a good spot for training. We need to brush up in preparation for Beacon."

Blake could see Weiss nodding at her words, she was on-board with the plan. Good, they would need every moment of training they could get if they were going to defeat Cinder this time.

With a sigh Blake gestured toward the bed. She was tired after a long day of preparing and executing an escape. Rest was something she desperately craved. She lay down on the bed, only for something to give way. The leg cracked and caused the bed to tumble off balance.

She was never sleeping in a motel room again.

* * *

 _Jaune was breathing heavily, barely managing to stand, but he had done it. He had won. Albeit temporarily, since the White Fang and Grimm had annihilated Vale and were on their way. Still it was a small victory._

 _Cinder's broken form lay before him, her shallow, pained breaths filling him with a strange, twisted sense of joy. He slowly walked towards her, Crocea Mors in hand. He approached to see her eyes filled with fear. Fear was good. It was something she had inflicted upon him in his first hundred lifetimes, although fear was the very first emotion to leave him, it was still one of the most intense. He was enjoying this._

 _He raised his loyal blade, intent on ending this nightmare once and for all, and yet… her vulnerable form which lay before him called out. Surely there was nothing wrong with it? She had tortured, punished and inflicted so much pain upon him. Surely it was only fair that he inflict some in return?_

 _He edged ever closer to her, but instead of pointing his blade to her throat like she expected him to, he instead decided to trail it lower… something she had always done to him whenever she captured him. Surely it was only fair that he return the favor? Why was he enjoying it so much?_

/-/

Jaune's eyes simply opened. He sat up in his bedroll, looking around at the trees, rocks and rising sun streaming over his campsite. They did little to calm the intense shaking his body was going through. The dream he had was a memory, the recollection of a life where he had truly become the monster he had set out to slay. Fear may have all but left him, but if one thing still elicited the emotion from him, it was that dream.

He shook his head, attempting to dispel the thoughts from his head. Dwelling on negativity never achieved anything. He decided to put on his disguise and head into town, hoping to catch anymore recent news which could shed some light on where Weiss or Blake had gone.

Despite his rational side telling him it was a fruitless endeavour, a small part of his mind still needed to know. They were his friends. He didn't care what the rational side of his mind told him when it came to them.

As he strolled through the streets of the settlement, intent on heading for the bar, he happened to come across the airship port along the way. As he neared the port he saw a Bullhead coming in. Usually they delivered cargo to the settlement, essentials and the like. Yet when the doors opened he saw two hooded figures step out. He wondered who they were. He looked closer as one of them wiped their brow for a scant moment, revealing their face.

Oh, it was just Weiss.

Just Weiss?! His mind must have failed him for a moment if that thought went through it. What was she doing here, and who was that dark hooded figure next to her? Why was Weiss wearing a disguise? Jaune made a split-second decision and immediately stepped behind a pile of crates, intent on tailing them.

He waited as the two walked past and into an alleyway. The hooded figure muttering something, followed by Weiss sighing at them. How strange, was the hooded figure blackmailing Weiss? He would find out.

/-/

"This hood is so uncomfortable… my ears are chafing." Weiss heard Blake ask. She sighed at the Faunus's question as the two walked into an alleyway, someplace they could finally take their disguises off.

"Your cat ears or your human ears?" she asked Blake.

"The cat ones, obviously. Do you ever hear humans complaining about wearing hoods?" She heard Blake ask. It was a good point. A lot of hats and headwear weren't easy for Faunus to wear, depending on what type they were. "I'd have ditched disguises long ago if I didn't have to hide from police and stalkers all the time." Stalkers?

"What do you mean stalkers? You mean those perverted people in hoods, wearing masks and abducting young women?" she asked. Now that she thought about it, stalkers would be rather dangerous for the average citizen who didn't have their Aura.

"Precisely… I even heard of a few female stalkers who target men… but those are rarer." Blake replied.

"That sounds horribly boorish and indignant… who would do such a thing?" she asked, wondering how on Remnant such atrocities could take place.

"I don't know… but I've heard dark things. They say alleyways are the ideal places for stalkers to strike…" Blake stated ominously as they continued walking down the desolate alleyway.

The sound of a bottle crunching and a muttered curse could be heard behind them. Weiss snapped her head back to face the source of the noise. It was a tall man… he was wearing a hood… mask, and shades.

"It's a stalker! Don't worry, I'll protect you!" Weiss exclaimed as she instantly drew Myrtenaster and urged Blake to stand behind her.

Weiss charged the lecherous scum.

/-/

Jaune's eyes widened as Weiss charged him, Myrtenaster's point heading for him. He really needed to focus when it came to his friends.

He took a step to the side and held out a leg, causing her to almost trip and lose balance as her eyes widened and locked onto his shades. He needed to get away before he was exposed. He needed to make this quick.

He turned to take advantage of her off balance state and proceeded to ram a palm into her solar plexus, driving the air from her lungs. He followed up with a sweeping kick which caught her, leading to her nearly falling onto her head, if not for a last-minute handstand flip of recovery from her. He knew her style inside out. Every move, every pattern, every tendency and every weakness. She hadn't even reached Beacon yet, and thus wasn't nearly as good as she would be eventually.

Then why was she suddenly countering all his attacks and guarding her weak spots with lethal efficiency? Jaune cursed from behind his mask and was immediately forced onto the defensive as Weiss began a flurry of fatally precise strikes against him. She was never _this_ good before Beacon. Something was wrong. He _really_ needed to end this quick.

 _'Sorry Weiss. I'll make it up to you some other time.'_ He immediately stepped into her guard and shoulder checked her, sending her off her feet. While she was mid-air, he slammed an elbow into her gut, sending her down toward the ground, but before she could hit it, slammed a knee into her back sending her spinning back up mid-air. As she spun he slammed a kick into her, sending her flying into the dark hooded figure that was now about to draw their weapon.

The moment he kicked her off, he turned and bolted off, as fast as he could. He turned away just as the dark hooded figure was drawing their weapon. While he would have liked to get a look at the weapon of this new player, he didn't have the time. It probably wasn't that important anyways.

He sprinted through buildings, market stalls and deftly made his way to the wilderness using a very haphazard pattern that would leave him uncatchable and untraceable to all but the most seasoned of Hunters. Once he reached his campsite he finally stopped to catch a breath.

His current panting was the main reason he always trained his speed and endurance each time. The original Jaune Arc was pathetic before Beacon. In terms of skill he had everyone else beat. Reacting to any possible attack with any possible counterattack? He could do it. Fighting multiple opponents at once without taking a single hit? He could do it. But what good was his relatively godlike skill when he had neither the speed, stamina nor power to back it up? He had tried numerous times before, to fight Cinder using just his skill. He failed every time. No matter how great he was at predicting her attacks and responding. No matter how mechanically perfect and efficient each movement was, he lost. Why? Because no matter how skilled he was, it didn't matter if he couldn't move out of the way fast enough, or if he tired first. Power itself wasn't too much of a problem since he could eventually defeat anyone provided he had enough speed and endurance.

His breathing finally calmed, and he sat down by the campfire. Weiss had eluded him once again, and he had no clue who the hooded figure was. At this point he was strongly considering giving up this mad chase. Seeing as Weiss willingly defended the figure, he had no reason to worry for her safety or freedom. The fact that she still had Myrtenaster told him that she likely still planned on attending Beacon. He released the tension within himself with a breath. If he had no way of finding out anything about them now, he would have to wait till Beacon.

Why did she call him a stalker?

* * *

Blake was on edge. She died, came back in time, discovered her teammates came back with her, broke Weiss out of her father's grip and fled Vale, only to come across a superhuman stalker who was somehow a master martial artist? Who wouldn't be on edge from that?

"Blake…" she heard Weiss say.

"Yes Weiss?"

"I… I need to get stronger…" Blake looked at her teammate as she said the words, a very determined look came upon her face. "That stalker showed me something… I thought I was strong, I went through time and came back… but then that honourless vermin beat me."

"He didn't _beat_ you." she said, attempting to reassure the heiress. Something she had been doing a lot as of late. Who would've thought she would be the team's go-to person for reassuring?

"No, you're right." Weiss stared at her. "He _crushed_ me. I've never been so thoroughly trounced in my life." Weiss lamented.

"Which is why we'll be training." she said as she came to a stop, the heiress stopping alongside her as they stood in front of a valley. "Starting from today, you and I are going to be practicing combat, every single day. We'll work on all our weaknesses, improve our strengths and hunt Grimm daily."

She was pleased to see a confident smile come upon Weiss's face. Good, she needed her to be looking forward to it. They'd get the best results if they were both trying their hardest. Everyone counted on them to.

"Oh, I almost forgot… we haven't called Ruby and Yang yet. We should probably let them know where we are." she heard Weiss say. That was a good idea.

* * *

She hit the floor for the umpteenth time. Why was Uncle Qrow this tough when it came to training? She wasn't complaining though, she wanted this. She got back up again and charged at Uncle Qrow, scythe in hand, trying another advanced technique she had learned during her time at Beacon. It failed miserably as Qrow used her own increased speed and momentum against her.

"Whoa! Tone it down there Ruby, who taught you that anyways?" her Uncle asked as she noticed him giving her curious looks.

"I uh… learned it from Yang! She gave me a cool idea, and I made it work." Ruby quickly replied, throwing her sister under the Deathstalker.

Ruby hid behind Qrow as his eyes immediately shifted to Yang who was glaring daggers at her. "Oh that… I told her that more spinning is always better." Ruby couldn't help but roll her eyes at the horrible lie, but thankfully, Uncle Qrow bought it.

"Eh well… I personally find it to be the opposite. The more it spins… the fewer drinks till I pass out." Her Uncle was in need of help. "Anyways, good training session, let's call it a day. Don't know why you kids suddenly got the idea that training's good for you. I mean… it is… but you're too young to take that stuff seriously."

"Really Uncle Qrow? No wonder why you're not a very good Huntsman…" she heard Yang send a jab at her Uncle. He growled.

"You kids are a decade too early to even think of being on my level. Don't get too full of yourselves." she heard him reply. Wasn't he getting rather full of himself right now?

"Oh… well I recall a certain Uncle huffing and puffing when we sparred… I wonder if he did his training?" Ruby watched as Yang ran off, Qrow giving chase after her. It brought a smile to her face.

Ruby took a seat on one of the benches surrounding the Signal Academy Arena. She was sore all over from getting thrown to the ground repeatedly by Uncle Qrow, yet she was happy. She learned a lot from that one session, no doubt if she kept this up for a year, she'd be strong. Strong enough to make a difference this time.

Her scroll went off as she hastily went to grab it. She pulled it up to see the familiar picture of Blake. She accepted the call.

"Hey Ruby." Blake's greetings were always rather short. She smiled at her teammate. "Where's Yang?"

"She's running from Uncle Qrow. How are you two?" she asked. The last time she spoke to Blake was before she left to break Weiss out of the theatre. It was a relief to see the two of them well.

"We're fine. We came to a small settlement on the outskirts of Vale and we're in the wilds now, trying to focus on training ourselves for Beacon." That was great, things were going according to plan. "But uh… we were attacked."

"Attacked?! When?! By who?!" Ruby furiously asked, her previously good mood already fallen at the news.

"I'll let Weiss tell you." she heard Blake reply, as the scroll was passed over to her teammate. "We were attacked by… a stalker… he was really strong, and I lost." the frustration in her voice apparent to Ruby.

"What's a stalker?"

"Wait… you don't know? They are dangerous criminals, responsible for atrocious acts." her partner replied. Oh, so that's what a stalker was. Ruby had a clearer picture now. In fact, she had her own newly gained expertise to add to the matter.

"A criminal… did he try any smut on you? Weiss?"

Her partner's face went pale and her jaw dropped at her remark. She was no doubt impressed by how knowledgeable the young Ruby was, that had to be it. Unfortunately, Blake snatched the scroll from her partner's hand and quickly shut it off.

What was that about?

She decided not to dwell on it. Everyone was happy. Weiss, Blake, Yang. Her family was here and Beacon was waiting for her. Everyone was happy, save one.

Jaune. She could only wonder about what he was going through right now. If his last words had been true, then he had been going through this for a while. How hard did he push himself each time, just to try and make everyone happy? She refused to dwell on these sad thoughts. Jaune wasn't going to fail, she would make sure of it. They would stand by him.

"Wait for us Jaune. We're with you this time."


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Forgot to mention it in the first chapter, but thanks Coeur. This fic is inspired by NTTF. You're my favourite writer on this site.**

 **No harems. I'm nowhere near good enough to write one realistically. This disclaimer also extends to my future stories. I simply can't write harems.**

* * *

 **Chapter 2 - Misunderstandings**

* * *

Jaune scratched the back of his head, trying to rack his mind. He was supposed to have given up trying to find out what was going on. He was supposed to simply wait till Beacon to find out. Yet his soft spot for his friends once again held the reins of his decision making. He wiped a hand across his forehead in exasperation. He desperately needed to let go of his attachments to them. Easier said than done, since, even after three thousand repeats he had not managed that.

But did he want to?

No. His feelings for those he cared about were the only thing keeping him afloat this raging river of madness he was riding. RWBY, his own team JNPR, they were the only ones keeping him from fading away into the cold void of nothingness. They were his flames, keeping him warm. Yet, like all flames, if you got too close, you would be burnt.

He staved off his negative thoughts, wondering what he would do next. It didn't take long for his mind to come to the same dreaded conclusion he tried to avoid. Jaune needed to unlock his Aura, and nobody was around to do it for him. Not out in the wilds.

Finding somebody to do it for him would waste precious training time. Time he had already lost engaging in the chaotic madness of this repeat. He would need to do it himself. He would need to unlock it the way Ren did.

He recalled the secret his friend had once confided in him. The secret of extreme stress activating Aura. A secret Nora and Ren had learned in pain and sorrow.

Unfortunately for Jaune, thousands of deaths tended to make one rather desensitized to stress, so the usual methods of going through physical pain were off the table. He tensed at the thought of having to do it. The thought of revisiting his nightmare.

He released a long breath, willing his tension away as he did. He gazed ahead, eyes catching the tallest tree in his view. With a burst, he latched onto the trunk and began climbing it. Each finger and movement perfectly placed, he was sure he could put a ninja to shame when it came to climbing things. He got as close to the top as possible while keeping a stable position, and sat on the gap between two split branches. He closed his eyes.

He could feel the familiar weight of his sealed Aura from within. He had unlocked it himself a few times before, although no matter how many times he did, it never got any easier. He sighed and slipped into a state of deep meditation. Having learned to connect to his soul from within long ago. Ren was the best teacher he ever had.

Hopefully his negativity wouldn't attract too many Grimm.

/-/

 _A long drawn out trail of red. He made sure to make it slow, delighting in the sharp scream of pain that came from her lips. The look in her eyes made him dangerously excited. They were almost pleading for him to stop. How ironic, that Cinder Fall, the monster that had always tortured him when she had him at her mercy, was now at his, so vulnerable… so sensitive and unused to pain._

 _He couldn't blame her. Torture was an art to him. While she may have had some minor experience with it, he turned it into something else entirely. He had thousands of years to hone it. Her vulnerability to his mastery of torture was only natural. Obsession overtook him as he continued to work his art, shrieks and whimpers piercing through the rain._

 _He heard her incoherently mumble a word. "Salem." he heard her mouth. She must have been delirious for senseless names to be coming from her lips. What a sight it was. The cold and calculating Cinder Fall, mastermind of the fall of Beacon, was now broken before him, reduced to a slobbering, whimpering mess. Her eyes, previously filled with fear, were now broken… resigned. His eyes lit up as he smiled. This was the moment he had been waiting to savour. The moment he gave Cinder a taste of what she had inflicted upon him._

 _The pain of breaking._

 _He stepped in closer, her body marred, her clothing torn, revealing her tempting form._

 _No. He would never do that. The thought disgusted him, causing him to drop Crocea Mors onto the ground. It was something she had done to him once… stripping him of the last shred of dignity he had left. He had lost all sense of self after that._

 _Rain poured atop the CCT, puddles formed on the floor of the now open tower. Below he could see Vale and Beacon in ruin, flames roaring even amidst the suffocating rainfall. Jaune's head trailed down to the ground, catching sight of a puddle between his feet, the reflection clear enough to see for just a moment._

 _The sight made his blood run cold._

 _It was him. What had he become?_

/-/

Jaune was torn from his meditation with a deep breath. His eyes jerked open to see a white glow surrounding his body, although it did nothing to stop the trembling he was going through. He exhaled a shaky breath as sweat rolled down his face, pulling Crocea Mors close to his chest as he looked down to the ground. A pack of three Beowolves were waiting for him below, at the base of the tree.

He blinked and refocused his attention. He couldn't waste time shivering in fear. He had work to do, training to complete. With a silent drop, he landed on one of the Beowolves, plunging Crocea Mors through its skull as he came down.

The other two immediately charged him. Their funeral.

He flipped forward, pulling his blade out of the fallen Grimm's skull as he jumped straight into the chest of one of the attacking ones. With a lazy extension of his arm, he thrust his blade upward into its chin. The last one sent a claw toward him, although he saw it coming from a mile away. With another motion, he simply stepped past its swing into its paws reach, missing it by millimetres as he proceeded to drive his sword into its eye.

He turned around and began to walk away, Crocea Mors still embedded in the Grimm's skull, slowly pulling out as he stepped. Grimm were more of a nuisance to him by this point, being the mindless beasts that they were, they never held a candle to his more dangerous opponents. The ones that could think.

One thing had been cemented in his mind however. He was never unlocking his own Aura again. Reliving that moment again just wasn't worth it. But that wasn't what truly bothered him.

What scared him was how much more tolerant he had become of that dream. Had he begun to accept it?

He released a long sigh and decided that he was grossly overthinking the matter. He needed a walk. A walk to clear his head, and to ponder on why only three Beowolves had attacked him. There were usually far more.

It wasn't like someone else had been killing them, right?

* * *

Blake's eyes flitted around, checking her immediate surroundings for any threats. When she had suggested daily Grimm hunting alongside Weiss, she didn't expect they would encounter dozens of them, almost as though something was drawing them to the area. Between her and Weiss they had likely killed over forty Beowolves and a dozen Ursa. Sensing a lull in their numbers, the two had decided to split up and keep hunting, still staying within a hundred yards of each other just in case.

Her spars against Weiss had gone well, with the both of them managing to exploit the other's weaknesses, thereby forcing them to adapt accordingly. It had been a good training session, one she would learn from.

Although if one thing bothered her, it was how Weiss insisted they keep their disguises on. Something to do with being a famous heiress to one of Remnant's most powerful companies. Not that she had to worry about that. To everyone else she was just a random Faunus out in the wilds. She had left her disguise back at camp. Who would recognize her anyways?

A flash of black cut her reflections short as she stared into the glaring red eyes of a Beowolf leading its pack. She sighed as Gambol Shroud left its sheath. Grimm were annoying, but she did welcome the training. It was the only way for them to get strong enough this time. Strong enough to win.

She immediately moved to the side as a Beowolf attempted to claw at her face, slashing into its throat as she evaded. Another attempted to take a bite out of her, but a quick shot into its eye put it out of commission. A third, fourth and a fifth went down to her display of lethal agility and speed as she sliced and shot them up.

The final two charged her, but a quick activation of her semblance managed to leave a clone in her stead. Two quick slashes from Gambol Shroud promptly dealt with them. She smiled, victory in her grasp, she could win this time. She turned around to see fangs headed for her face. She wouldn't be able to activate her semblance in time.

/-/

A walk. A quiet, peaceful way of clearing his head was all Jaune had wanted. Yet trouble seemed to find him at every turn. A chance moment of hearing the sounds of fighting had lead him to a clearing where he came upon something unsettling.

Blake. Upon seeing her he had dashed behind the nearest tree out of sight and intently observed. She had been fighting a pack of Beowolves, and absolutely massacring them if her performance was any indication. He had mentally scratched his metaphorical head trying to explain why she too was somehow far more skilled than she had any right to be at the time.

He had kept watching as she won, but a particular moment caused his breath to catch in his throat. A King Taijitu, shooting out of the clearing, charging toward her exposed back. He knew she couldn't activate her semblance for an attack she didn't see coming. She would be fine… her Aura would allow her to take the hit. He really needed to stop fussing over them.

His body jumped of its own accord.

/-/

Blake cringed, bracing herself for the impact she knew was sure to come. The white blur stopped just short of her, something perched atop the King Taijitu. Someone.

She watched, her mouth agape as the figure placed two palms on the white head of the snake. Her eyes widened as the white head suddenly exploded, a shockwave of Aura passing through it. She continued gazing as her newfound ally leapt over to the remaining head and did the same in a perfect motion. No error or possible room for improvement in his movements. Who was he?

The figure jumped off the now dead Grimm and landed a distance away from her. She looked closer. A hood, mask and… dark shades. Her jaw dropped. It was the super stalker. He wasn't here to save her… no. He wanted her for himself!

She needed to fight to defend herself. He would pay for hurting Weiss.

With wary steps Blake stepped forward, Gambol Shroud at the ready as she began to close the distance between them. She knew how easily this scum had managed to defeat Weiss and would not make the mistake of rushing him like her teammate had. She kept a close eye on him, making certain he didn't try any sudden moves.

"Why are you doing this? Can't you see that stalking people is wrong?" she asked him rhetorically. This pervert couldn't be reasoned with, she knew that much. She could swear she saw an eyebrow rise behind those dark shades of his.

Her reflexes flared however as she saw him immediately turn tail and attempt to run. She wouldn't let it be and gave chase.

He was fast, faster than his physique would suggest, but not raw speed. It was a kind of speed produced from masterful footwork. Perfectly efficient mechanical movements. Was he so skilled in martial technique that he could apply it even to his movements?

Yet it was not enough. This super stalker's technique was not enough to outrun her raw speed, something she had trained in for a good deal of her life. She caught up to him, when the distance between them was less than a dozen feet she opened fire, aiming for his legs.

She was shocked to see him dodge. Well, not exactly dodge, but move out of where her shot would have hit before she had fired. Did he know where she was going to shoot? How was that possible when he wasn't even looking back?

Blake continued chasing after the man, deciding to instead focus on a different tactic. A close-up tackle. She sprinted to where the distance between them was fewer than two feet, and pounced. At this range, there was no avoiding her. She sailed through the air, closing the remaining bit of distance between them.

She sailed, about to tackle him from behind, but he moved. She knew he wouldn't avoid the tackle completely, but he had ducked just enough to mitigate its effects almost completely. His hands above his head in a defensive posture, guarding it no doubt. Her tackle mostly sailed over him, much to her frustration. She felt something snag… something tugging hard on her top straps.

A loud ripping noise followed as Blake hit the ground from her failed tackle. Although, something was off, her body felt slightly lighter. Something was off… literally.

Her hands tightened into fists as she gave this perverted freak a glare that would have him six feet under if looks could kill. She quickly covered up with her hands and backed off a fair distance.

He was breathing rather hard, and she could see that whatever exposed skin he had was red. The realization hit her suddenly.

This creep was excited! Oh gods… she was about to be molested, wasn't she? Was this his plan all along? Lead her through the woods away from his partner, strip her down and have his way with her? Her eyes widened in fear as his knees bent slightly. No doubt he was preparing to tackle her down.

To her surprise the man decided to turn the other way and run. She glanced over her shoulder to see Weiss rapidly approaching at high speeds, in the process of drawing Myrtenaster. Relief overtook her.

She turned back to see the super stalker had disappeared.

* * *

Fate could go shoot itself in the head with a high-powered Dust rifle. Jaune was not happy. He didn't even mean to rip Blake's clothes off! She had done that herself. It wasn't his fault that his hand couldn't move fast enough to get out of her way.

He had expected her to perhaps react calmly at having somebody kill a King Taijitu for her. Silent gratitude, perhaps a way of starting a conversation with her.

He did not however, expect her to immediately attack him while accusing him of… stalking her? Did his get-up really look that suspicious? Surely, he thought slaying a Grimm in her defense would be enough for her to ignore it?

He forcibly cleared his mind of these thoughts. They weren't the real problem. The real problem was the dark hooded figure he saw running in from behind Blake. From the looks of it, Blake knew the figure. He had turned around to run just before the figure drew their weapon. Just like last time he failed to get a look at it, although he doubted the weapon they used would be of any importance.

His mind came to a solid conclusion.

It was official, an insane cult had somehow formed in this timeline. A cult intent on befriending and brainwashing Remnant's future Huntresses. He needed to find a way to deal with these new players and turn them to his advantage. But what was his next step?

It came to him immediately. Both Blake and Weiss had been approached and persuaded by these dark hooded figures. He needed to make sure that this wasn't simply limited to the two of them. If they had been compromised, then the only next logical step would be… Yang and Ruby.

He needed to make sure they were safe. He needed to head for Patch.

/-/

Blake embarrassingly fidgeted as she sat beside her teammate. She recalled every detail of the humiliating, literal dressing down she had received. How the lecherous vermin had appeared excited at seeing her undressed, and how he was about to tackle her to the ground and… have what he wanted. A certain part of her slightly tingled at the thoughts.

She immediately gave said part a mental slap.

She desperately shook her head side to side, attempting to dispel the confusing thoughts that were going through it. Weiss was right… she too needed to get stronger. The stalker would be back, and they needed to be able to defend themselves. He had attacked them twice by now.

She felt a hand rest on her shoulder. She flinched, almost jumping at thinking it was the stalker. She sighed a breath of relief at seeing her teammate. She looked to see concern on Weiss's face.

"Blake… you can rest now… he's gone. You can't keep thinking about it." she heard Weiss mouth, attempting to reassure her no doubt. She smiled at her teammate's words. Weiss was right, she couldn't dwell on such a thing. It wasn't what Jaune would do. He would move forward.

She nodded in reply and turned to face Weiss. "You're right… and I've been thinking Weiss. This super stalker is dangerous. He came after us twice now." she stated, their next step forming in her mind.

"Right… he easily crushed me… and he uh…" she could hear the uncertainty in Weiss's voice, realizing that the heiress had not meant to bring it up so soon.

"It's fine Weiss. He almost… took me." she recalled, a tinge of red coloring her face. She might as well admit it to herself so that she could move on. "But that wasn't what I wanted to talk about."

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Weiss asked her. She knew that the heiress was likely on the same track as her.

She nodded. "We need help to deal with him." admitting it had pained her slightly. A stab at her pride. "We need to meet up with Ruby and Yang on Patch."

She smiled to see Weiss nodding along with her. "I'll give Yang a call to let her know we're coming over." she said, eager to finally see her team reunited for the first time this life. She pulled out her scroll and tapped on Yang's picture, waiting as the call went through.

After a few seconds the call went through, Yang's sleepy face showing up on screen, although her partner seemed worried.

"Blake? Is everything alright? Where's Weiss?" her partner asked. A warm feeling went through her upon hearing her partner ask that question. She reassuringly smiled.

"We're fine Yang… we just wanted to let you know. We're coming over to Patch in two days. Can you meet us?" she asked, happy to see her partner's face again. Yang always had a reassuring effect on her.

"Can we meet you? Someone knock you upside the head? Of course we'll meet you!" Yang exclaimed, joy evident in her partner's voice. Although she could see Yang's face fall as soon as a light turned on in the hallway. "Whoops… meet us at the café in town. We'll be waiting there at four."

"We'll be there." she replied, finding herself smiling at Yang's antics once again. A previously empty part of her felt as though it had filled up.

"Awesome, catch you later." Yang whispered into the scroll as Blake saw her screen go black.

"To Patch then?" Weiss asked her. She smiled.

"To Patch."

* * *

Yang Xiao-Long hated the waiting game. Patience was not the blonde brawler's strong suit, and neither was it Ruby's if the number of broken training droids at school had been any indication. Between herself and her sister, they had probably destroyed enough training bots to fill the Amity Colosseum.

When Blake had called her to say that they would be coming over, Yang was giddy with excitement, finally getting a chance to see her partner and teammate. A chance to reunite team RWBY. The two days of waiting in-between however, had been torture.

As she and Ruby sat inside the café, she couldn't help but feel a strange sense of happiness at having it all back. Her sister, her family, her team and friends, and her future at Beacon. A future she would save this time. By smashing Cinder and her cronies' faces in. She wouldn't let playboy deal with them alone.

She sipped on her coffee as Ruby eagerly licked her lips from devouring a milkshake laced with enough sugar to kill an Ursa. She was about to finish off the rest of her coffee when a strange sight caught her attention. Two dark hooded figures were crossing the street, and from the looks of it, were about to enter the café.

The two suspicious characters entered the café and seemed to head in their direction. Yang tensed, about to deploy Ember Celica when she caught sight of the two behind the hoods.

"Blake! Weiss!" she exclaimed and bolted up to her feet.

"Quiet you dolt! These disguises aren't for nothing!" she heard Weiss reprimand.

With inhuman strength, she pulled the two and her sister into a crushing group hug. They fussed and whined. But she knew they weren't really complaining. Team RWBY was back in business.

She reluctantly let go, each taking a seat at the booth as they heard Ruby speak. "So why are you two wearing disguises and why are you here? I mean I'm not complaining, but weren't you supposed to be training in Vale?" her sister asked them. Good question, if they were here, then something had to be up.

"Well…" Weiss attempted to sound, unsure of what to say. Yang could spot a bead of sweat roll down the Ice Queen's brow, seeing it made her tense up too.

She spotted the look on Ruby's face. Her little sister had a sneaking suspicion as to what it was. "Weiss… was it… was it that stalker you were talking about?" Weiss's reaction to the question had confirmed it for her. Yang's hands tightened into fists.

"Yes… he attacked us and he… uhm…" Yang knew Blake was hiding something, she didn't want to say what had happened. How bad could it possibly be?

"Say no more Blake. I know what he did… the foul villain… he did smut to you didn't he?" Ruby innocently said.

Weiss's jaw dropping wasn't what caught her attention. Neither was it Ruby's self-satisfied smirk at having come to a brilliant conclusion. It was Blake's nervous cough and glance to the side. It had confirmed it for her.

That creep had tried to molest her partner.

Her hands slammed onto the table as she stood up, ready to smash something into the ground. Her fiery red eyes locked onto those of her partner.

"Blake…" she spoke. Her tone dangerously low. "What does this guy look like?" she asked. Her mind clear, ready to memorize whatever description Blake would give her.

"He wore a hood, mask and… dark shades." Blake replied, confirming the dead man's appearance for her. "But Yang… you need to be careful. He isn't just any normal stalker… he knows martial arts… he beat the both of us. The only other person who fights that well is Jaune, and he isn't here to help us."

Yang didn't care. She was going to massacre the dirty worm the moment she spotted him. With an angry huff, she stood up. Her eyes shifting back to lilac for a moment as she stepped toward the door.

"I need a walk."

/-/

Jaune watched through a pair of binoculars as Yang angrily stomped out of the café. Behind the blonde, Ruby and the two cultists followed. He had watched eagerly as she conversed with the two dark hooded figures, gotten enraged at something and proceeded to stomp off. He was certain she wasn't angry at the two strangers. No, Yang was angry at someone else from what he saw. Whoever it was would pay dearly for getting her angry when she found them.

Poor sod, he almost felt bad for whoever that was.

He quickly clambered off the roof and made way to tail them. As he did, he continued wondering what this new pattern meant. These dark hooded figures had been present alongside each of team RWBY. What were their aims? Brainwash them into serving a nefarious purpose? A master plan to conquer Remnant? A thought struck him.

What if they were time travelers of some sort, here to invade his timeline?

He smacked himself on the head. Clearly, he had been spending too much time with Ruby. He tailed the group across the small streets of Patch as he pondered. Perhaps he could turn these new players to his advantage. Maybe get them to kill Cinder for him? He sighed. Ruby really was a bad influence on him.

He observed as they took a walk into an alleyway. As he made to follow he couldn't help but feel a strange sense of déjà vu.

The crunching of glass could be heard under his foot.

/-/

"What do you mean you were attacked in an alleyway? It'll be fine, I'm here this time." Yang spoke as she walked behind the group.

She saw Weiss cast a nervous glance her way as she said those words. Did Ice Queen know something she didn't? It wasn't like a single stalker was _that_ good. Even if she couldn't take him, she was certain the four of them together could.

"Yang… I don't think this is a good idea. We don't need to walk into an alleyway to take off our disguises." Weiss told her. Yang sighed. The heiress wasn't usually so dramatic, what had gotten into her? She decided not to respond.

An awkward silence drifted between them. A silence that was broken by the crunching of glass.

Yang's head spun faster than a bullet toward the source of the sound. There she saw him. Tall, hooded, wearing a mask and dark shades. It was the stalker her partner had been assaulted by.

"It's him!" Weiss exclaimed, fear apparent in her voice. She didn't need her confirmation. She knew who it was the moment she looked. It was a man soon to be dead.

She shot an arm out to block Blake and Weiss, urging them to not draw their weapons. She would deal with this creep herself. Herself and Ruby it seemed, as she glanced sideways to see her little sister with Crescent Rose deployed and facing the dirty predator.

"I don't know who you are… but you tried touching my partner didn't you?" It was a rhetorical question, she hadn't expected an answer, and she wouldn't wait for one. "You're dead!"

"Yeah! How dare you try smut on Blake!" she heard her sister mouth. She would sigh, but Ruby wasn't entirely wrong. The vermin _had_ tried that on her partner.

With a roar, she deployed Ember Celica and charged toward him, Ruby alongside her.

/-/

He was screwed. There was no way he could beat both Yang and Ruby at the same time. Not with his current body. He hastily ducked under a thunderous haymaker from Yang which would have smashed a speeding Bullhead apart, and simultaneously stepped out of the way of a shot from Crescent Rose.

Yang continued launching a flurry of powerful blows toward him. Blows he barely managed to avoid while also avoiding the high-powered sniper rifle that harassed him. He wouldn't last very long at this rate, not with the two cultists likely to join in whenever they wanted.

 _'Sorry Yang. This is going to hurt me more than it hurts you.'_ He proceeded to go for her weak spots. He knew her moves inside out, how skilled she was before Beacon was a fact he had memorized.

He cursed as she hastily avoided and managed to guard against his strikes. Now he was officially cursed. Yang was the third member of RWBY that had somehow gotten far more skilled than was possible. He immediately fell back and decided that he needed to get some breathing room for an escape. His stamina wouldn't last long at the rate he was exerting it. His body moving at max speed, trying to avoid the attacks of two Huntresses far more skilled than he remembered.

He stepped directly into the reach of a heavy front jab, barely dodging past it, yet he grunted as a bullet impacted hard against his Aura. He knew the shot from Crescent Rose was coming, yet there was nothing he could have done. Regardless of how mechanically perfect his movements were, despite how well he could predict their movements, he simply couldn't get his body to move fast enough to dodge. Yet, he had done the best he could, using his Aura manipulation to reinforce that particular area, mitigating the damage as well as he could.

He was tiring, his muscles burning from the intense workout, his finer control over them beginning to lower. He began to make sloppy mistakes he normally would have been able to avoid. A failed dodge due to his tired muscles giving out on him lead to another shot hitting his shoulder.

On the bright side, Yang had begun to tire from the repeated heavy strikes she had tried. He smirked as he knew what would happen next. She would get sloppy, miss and leave herself open for an easy knockout. He could use the opportunity to escape too.

Just as she began breathing heavily, he turned around, about to dash off. Only to barely move his body in time to avoid a lethal swing of Crescent Rose. What was that? Did Ruby just jump in to cover for Yang? That was something they had only learned to do many months after starting Beacon.

No, he was likely overthinking it. Ruby and Yang were sisters after all, and the act had likely been a coincidence… much like everything else that had happened so far in this repeat.

He swiftly lashed out to disarm Ruby of Crescent Rose, he knew she was nearly useless without it. He loudly cursed as she pulled back in time, refusing to allow him to do so. Was she aware of her own weaknesses now too? Just what was going on?

If he couldn't disarm her, he could certainly knock her around enough to get away. He stepped forward, ready to quickly put her out, when glowing blasts from Ember Celica forced him to leap back. Yang charged in toward him again, fresh from the short breather Ruby had given her. There was no way they were consciously fighting together, right?

Unfortunately for Jaune, this repeat had been a streak of dumb assumptions after the other.

It was brutally methodical. Yang punishing him up-close, while Ruby took him apart from a distance using Crescent Rose. Whenever he was close to pushing Yang back, Ruby sailed in to the brawler's rescue. There was no way he could keep this up for a moment longer. His breaths had begun to cause pain in his lungs as he felt his muscles beginning to numb. Getting discovered here would be the end of his plans.

As Yang came in for a final charge, he did the only thing he knew would stop her. He lashed a hand out, smiling when she ducked, just as he had predicted. At least some things would never change.

His hand latched onto a massive fistful of her hair.

/-/

Yang froze in her tracks as she felt his fingers travel through her hair, touching down all the way to her scalp. Her breath froze in her throat as she felt his grasp tighten, a fist forming as she felt him take a bundle of her hair. She was about to coil her hand up and blow his head off for daring to do such a thing. Yet her hand too stopped in place when she saw what had happened.

He had pulled a knife. On her hair.

Her hair was being held hostage.

"Make a move and you'll be nursing a bald spot for the rest of the year." she heard the beast threaten in a gravelly voice. She suspected it wasn't his real one, but now wasn't the time for such thoughts.

She slowly lifted her hands to convey that she wasn't a threat. She visibly gulped as she stared into the dark shades before her. She could now see what Blake and Weiss had meant. This man was dangerous.

"W-what do you want?" she asked, fear in her voice. What if he demanded something very personal from her?

"Turn around and come with me. Don't worry, I won't hurt you." she heard the stalker whisper into her ear. Her hairs stood on edge as his voice provoked dangerous thoughts in her head. What did he mean when he said he wouldn't hurt her?

They slowly began to move to the entrance of the alleyway, the two of them facing towards her team, Blake and Weiss still hooded, wanting to draw their weapons, yet incapable of doing so for fear of Yang losing her hair.

As they reached the entrance, she felt his grip on her hair loosen. Good, she was now free to act. With a hand motion, she ushered Ruby to come in. She heard her sister call out. "Don't you dare try any smut you stalker! Yang! I'll save you!"

She smirked as she saw Ruby use her semblance to rapidly close the distance. She too was about to turn around and knock his head off.

Before she could however, she felt a painful boot impact her rear. With a yelp, she was sent flying forward, straight into the path of her sister.

The impact was painful, akin to being hit by a Goliath. The two of them impacting had produced a slapping sound of flesh impacting flesh. They both hit the ground with a groan, Ruby clumsily landing atop Yang. They hastened to stand back up and chase after the super stalker, but Weiss and Blake had them beat as they ran after him.

As soon as they stood, they too scrambled to the alleyway entrance, spotting Weiss and Blake standing there.

"He escaped… again." Weiss said, disappointment evident in her tone.

"That… that freak! Nobody touches my hair except Ruby!" she yelled, her eyes dangerously red.

"Yang… calm down. We can't do anything about him now." she heard her sister say.

"Ruby's right, we can't do anything about this creep until we meet Jaune. I'm sure he has an answer for dealing with him." she heard her partner advise.

Blake was right. Jaune likely had all the answers they sought. He was initially a mystery to them in their past life. Always too knowledgeable, always a little too familiar, yet so reliable. He was distant, at first. Although he did eventually begin to warm up to them, it was not without hesitation on his part. She'd have to ask him why.

Her partner made a good case for sticking to the plan.

If anyone had all the answers, it was Jaune Arc.

/-/

Jaune Arc had no answers.

Fate had enjoyed toying with him for the last time. He recalled how, every time he attempted to check up on his friends, he had somehow been caught and engaged in a fight.

The first time he had attempted to chase Weiss, he miraculously stepped on a bottle which had somehow gotten under his feet. A random bottle managing to sneak under the feet of a three-thousand-year-old master of perception. What other answer did that have besides fate?

Then he came across Blake in the same woods. She had been fighting Grimm, and just when he should have left, a King Taijitu decided to charge her exposed back. Okay, that one may have been his fault, but he still felt resentful towards fate for creating the situation.

The last straw came moments earlier, when he had been tailing Yang, intent on finding an answer to the strange cult that had stalked after Remnant's future. He stepped on a bottle once more. Where did they keep coming from anyways?!

He was done. The cult could have them if it wanted, they had willingly gone along with the cultists too. What else could he do if they were in no need of help?

Something had annoyed him to no end however. Why did they think he was a stalker? He felt wounded at that, pride flaring up. He was nothing like a stalker! All he did every repeat was go after his friends… tail them… influence their lives… and attempt to domineer all possible outcomes for them.

Ouch.

He didn't expect self reflection to hurt that badly.

The unanswered questions still hurt his head though. The cultists, RWBY's sudden boost in skill, and the different feeling of his semblance this time around.

He sighed and cleared his head. They could deal with their own problems, for he was out of steam. Losing control and being unable to do anything about it repeatedly tended to drain him.

Had he even bothered to get his armor this time?

No. He only ever got his armor in repeats where he was fully invested, lives where he had foolishly gotten attached and intended to try his hardest to win. He wasn't ready to don the reminder of his last life again.

Oh well, it wouldn't matter much anyhow. He projected that he still had a few thousand more repeats to go till he had enough knowledge and mastery to finally win. Whether or not he had his armor, he would die all the same.

It wasn't like somebody would force him to put on.

* * *

"Alright, team meeting time." Weiss heard her partner and leader say as the four sat around the table. Ruby's face was serious, or an attempt at serious, one that ended up looking hilariously cute instead.

"Alright, what are we talking about?" she asked, looking to start the discussion and not waste any time.

"Our plan, how we're going to tell Jaune, and how we need to avoid meeting him before Initiation." her leader spoke. Good, those were important questions that they needed to consider. Weiss lightly smiled. Ruby had come far from the bumbling, irresponsible dunce she had been eight months ago.

"Why do we need to avoid meeting him before Initiation exactly?" Yang asked. Weiss sighed, were all blondes _this_ incapable of seeing basic logic?

"Because he'll see right through us if we do." she replied, trying to drill some sense into Yang's head. "Have you seen his behaviour? Arc has been doing this for a long time. He likely knows all of us, better than we know ourselves." she lectured Yang.

"Weiss is right. Have you never noticed Jaune's behaviour? He calculates everything, sees through everyone, and plays people into doing what he wants." Blake continued on in her stead. "He'll know something is wrong the moment we talk to him. We're only lucky he hasn't encountered any of us yet."

"Okay, okay, I get it. But what's so bad about him knowing before Initiation anyways?" Yang asked.

"If he knows we came back with him, he might try to change the original teams." Ruby replied. "Do you really want to be on any other team than RWBY?"

"Oh…" It finally seemed to click in Yang's head, much to Weiss's relief. "But what about after? What do we do once we confront Jaune after Initiation?"

"The exact words were 'kick Cinder's behind.'" Blake quipped, causing Ruby to pout at the Faunus. "Which, while inspiring, aren't the most detailed."

Weiss sighed. "Yes, and we replaced that with your plan Blake. We'll be following Jaune's lead, we know."

"But won't we have to make things happen the same way again? You know, meeting Penny, the Docks and all that?" Yang asked. Of course, respecting the timeline was basic common sense. What was Yang talking about?

"Why of course, why would we not?" she asked, curious to hear exactly what Yang was implying.

"If we're following the timeline after Initiation… then why aren't we following what happened before it? I mean, things like you and Ruby bumping into each other, us meeting Blake, that kind of thing. On the day of Initiation." Weiss's mind failed to compute for a moment. Did Yang want her to recreate getting blown up again?

"How is getting blown up going to help?" she asked, certain that Yang had lost it.

"Well… you know how Blake said that Jaune's _really_ observant. So, wouldn't he notice if you guys didn't get blown up this time?" That was… an excellent point. She would never think less of Yang's intelligence again.

"But how? Weiss doesn't even have the dust or her dad's workers this time. We can't make it happen again just like it was." Ruby replied. Something suddenly struck her.

"Oh no…"

"What's wrong Weiss?" Blake asked her, worry creasing the girl's brow.

"When I escaped… it made the news. It was on scrolls and screens everywhere… I'm sure Jaune noticed." It was a massive flaw in their earlier plan. If they wanted to keep Jaune unaware of their presence before Initiation, the plan had likely failed already.

She could see Blake's eyes widen at the same time. "The train robbery in the Forever Fall forest… I was supposed to be there the first time… I watched the news story after. They gave an account of the suspects." Blake paused before continuing. "Jaune knows I wasn't there this time."

"Weren't you complaining that _we_ might have broken the timeline?" Yang quipped. She saw Blake growl in response. "So? what if a few things changed? We still have to try and keep them the same, at least until after Initiation. If Jaune doesn't see _anything_ happen like it did last time, _then_ he'll get suspicious." Yang had a point. "The two of you breaking off is bad, _but_ if he sees things are normal till Initiation, then he might give it the pass long enough for us to go through without a hitch."

She didn't want to admit it, but Yang was right. She had to get blown up again.

"Agreed, but what are we doing for the next eleven months? We can't just lounge about." Blake said as she found herself agreeing with her.

"We'll need to train. Every day, just like we planned back in that settlement." she replied. "Right now, we aren't even strong enough to beat a stalker let alone Cinder. We have to fix this."

Determination burned in her eyes, and as she looked around she saw similar looks on the faces of her friends and teammates. But none burned quite as bright as her leader, Ruby Rose.

* * *

She stood in front of the gravestone, its words having a calming effect on her.

'Summer Rose - Thus Kindly I Scatter'.

Her mother might have left physically, but she was still always there for her. Always there to talk to.

"So… it's been a while since we talked Mom. Well… not really this time, but from last time you know?" she awkwardly began. If anyone put up with her quirky personality and awkwardness, it was her mom. Ruby might have even picked up some of it from her.

"I _really_ hope you came back with me. You're with me this time too, right?" she rhetorically asked. An answer wouldn't be given, but it was something she always did. It helped calm her.

"Anyway… if you did, then you know how crazy this whole thing is right? Time travel, stalkers, smut. I'm so worried I think I'm going to explode." she paused to let her mom take it in. "Jaune's counting on us, even if he doesn't know it yet. But I don't know if we'll be able to help him. What if… what if we can't?" she asked. Doubt flooding her mind. From what she pieced together, Jaune had likely been at this for a while. If he couldn't do it yet, what chance did they have?

More importantly, how could they beat Cinder? She was monstrously powerful, enough so that not even Jaune together with the four of them could do it. Would a year be enough for her to come up to par? Doubt and worry came upon her face. It didn't suit her.

An answer came in the form of something small, red and vibrant. That was what had floated onto her nose. A rose petal.

She smiled as her burdens left her. Her mother had as good as answered it for her. There was always a way.

"Love you Mom. You're the best." she replied, turning around. As she did she recalled what would face her. A pack of Beowolves.

She could use the practice.

* * *

 **Eleven months later**

Ruby stood at the entrance to 'From Dust Till Dawn'. She knew what the date was. Tonight was the night she stopped Torchwick's robbery and got into Beacon. She calmly entered and walked to the back of the store, deciding to pretend to read a few weapons magazines. She wasn't wearing her headphones this time.

As expected, Torchwick and his four henchmen entered the store a few moments later. She heard him muttering something to the shopkeeper which caused the poor man to plead. Last time she had kept her headphones on, only being alerted when a thug had attempted to mug her. She didn't need to do that this time.

She stepped up to the counter from behind the shelves, and as she did, Roman's thugs immediately pointed their weapons at her. She had the barest smirk on her face. It fell when she saw Torchwick.

The cocky criminal looked exactly as she remembered. A cheap attempt at a gentlemanly outfit, the cocky smirk, and the theatrical twirling of his cane. It was sickening.

"Well, well, what do we have here? A little Red poking her nose into other people's business." Torchwick cockily mouthed. She felt something burning inside her, something she didn't know she could feel. Hatred. The sight of the thief made her want to hurt him, badly.

"Are you robbing me?" she asked, her voice noticeably colder than it usually was. She needed an excuse to start the fight after all.

"Robbing you? Not at all. My associates on the other hand? _They_ might have a few words with you on that." Torchwick arrogantly sounded. Always trying to appear as something more than he was. A common criminal.

It took all of Ruby's strength to stop herself from tearing into him right away. Doing that could change things for the worse. She needed the thief to get away this time, and she needed Professor Goodwitch to step in and help her do it.

She grimaced as one of the goons pointed a sword at her, and the others aimed their guns toward her. As her hand went for Crescent Rose, she silently hoped that she could replicate this event well. Her admission to Beacon depended on it.

With a sudden burst of speed, she deployed Crescent Rose, utilizing her semblance to magnify her velocity in a dash toward the first one. She used the momentum to slam the flat end of her weapon into the goon who had a sword pointed at her, sending him out the window of the store.

She waited as Roman motioned the rest of his men to attack her before leaving the store. He was gone. Good, now she could cut loose. With another burst of speed, she rushed into the remaining three, momentum strong enough that a single swing from her scythe's flat end sent them all flying out the broken window.

She hurriedly leapt out the store to find Roman attempting to saunter away. He turned to regard her however, having noticed that she had disposed of all his henchmen.

"Truly, they were worth every cent." he grumbled under his breath, rather annoyed at how quickly his men had been dispatched. "Well Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening." She knew what he was about to do. Was this how Jaune felt? "And as much as I'd love to stick around, I'm afraid this is where we part ways." he uttered, firing the glowing explosive round from Melodic Cudgel. She knew it was coming and jumped far ahead of time, spotting the surprise on Torchwick's face as she did. He wasted no time in dashing for the ladder leading to the roof however.

She landed and gave chase after him, yet making sure to keep an adequate distance like she had last time. After he reached the top, she jumped up, following after him. She heard him grumble something under his breath as the Bullhead showed up in front of him, its hatch open, waiting for him to enter.

She also knew what came next, as the thief pulled out a red Dust gem and was about to throw it at her. Precognition was a pretty handy ability. She fired Crescent Rose before the gem left his hand.

A deafening explosion sounded across the air as Roman was thrown backwards into the vehicle, and the Bullhead violently rocked back and forth from the shock of having a Dust gem explode inside it.

She silently cheered to herself. Cheers which stopped the moment the strange figure from last time came into view. The shadows obscured them, but she was certain it was a woman from what she could see now, and from what she remembered from last time. That wasn't right. The stranger only came out after Professor Goodwitch arrived. Speaking of which, where was she anyway? Was she too fast in disposing of Torchwick's henchmen this time?

She yelped as a stream of flame rushed toward her, barely managing to jump out of the way with a shot from Crescent Rose. She glared and returned fire, attempting to keep the stranger on the defense. Yet strangely, the flames struck her with an odd sense of familiarity. She gasped as she barely avoided another attack, this time a row of flaming pillars shooting up from the ground.

She realized she would need a little more punch for dealing with whoever this was, and pulled out her current magazine, only to switch it with one which was marked 'explosive', something she didn't have last time. She stood in place and took aim for the figure who was obscured in darkness down to their feet.

Her opponent had already fired a ball of flame toward her, yet it was one she was willing to take. She needed to get off the shot, she needed to keep the Bullhead occupied till Professor Goodwitch came along.

Her shot hit its mark, yet flames also hit her. Her eyes widened. She knew whose flames they were.

Cinder.

Ruby didn't wince as the flame singed the edge of her sleeve, instead opting to stare directly. Her explosive shot had caused the Bullhead to rock forward enough so that she could see the light revealing the monster's outfit halfway. It had confirmed it for her.

Cinder was here.

Ruby's grip on Crescent Rose tightened as she gazed into the shadow of where her face would be. She immediately took aim and began firing shot after shot at the Bullhead, all of which were intercepted by bright flames providing a shield. She kept firing, rage overtaking her, as she ignored the ground glowing beneath her, about to erupt in flames.

She felt a force pull her back. A purple cloak stepping in front of her. It was Professor Goodwitch.

/-/

Glynda had sighed when she saw the Bullhead fly off into the distance, beyond her range, and beyond any interest she had in pursuing it. When she had received the alert of a robbery in Vale she hadn't expected to arrive while the crime was taking place. Neither had she expected to find a little girl foiling the robbery and engaging an enemy on par with a seasoned Huntress.

Ruby Rose was skilled. Something she would normally admire and encourage in all Huntsmen and Huntresses, yet the bubbly girl had aroused some of her suspicions. When she pulled the girl out of the way of the attack which would have hit her, she received a glare. A glare filled with anger, but which had faded a moment after. She had chalked it up to the heat of combat.

Now she was pacing about behind Ozpin who was intent on having a talk with the girl.

/-/

"Ruby Rose…" he stated quizzically as he stared. "You have silver eyes." Interesting.

He held the gaze for a while longer when she didn't show any reaction to his creepy probing. He gave her a light smile. Placing a plate of cookies in front of her, he was surprised to see her hesitate for a moment before taking just one. Odd. Qrow had told him that she was addicted to them. He took a seat and placed a scroll in front of her.

"Can I assume a dusty old crow taught you how to fight like this?" he asked as he curiously studied her reactions.

Qrow had deigned to inform him of just how dedicated his two nieces were to training. At first, he merely chuckled upon hearing the man, happy to see he was focused on something other than drinking. Later, he began to pay more heed to the occurrence. Two future Huntresses training so hard wasn't what had piqued his curiosity. What had interested him was the complete change they had shown. As Qrow had put it, their skill 'went up faster than an innkeeper's skirt.'

"Mhm. Uncle Qrow taught me that." he heard her reply. That was it? He expected a slightly longer reply, based off what Qrow and Taiyang had told him. She was supposedly a weapons nut. Perhaps he could get her to open up with that.

"He taught you how to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" he questioned. Surprised when she only nodded in return, a far cry from the hyperactive weapons-obsessed girl he had heard so much about.

"If you don't mind me asking, why were you trying to stop Roman Torchwick?" While young Miss Rose was no doubt skilled, he wondered what motivated her go through with battling Vale's deadliest criminal.

"Well… he was robbing a store." she replied, uncertain of what to say. He caught on, there was a certain truth hidden behind her words, yet it was not the full truth.

"While admirable, I can see that isn't the full story. Miss Rose, was a simple robbery the only reason you fought against Vale's most wanted?" He pressed. Her eyes glanced away nervously, he had pressed her into a corner it would seem. The truth would no doubt come out now.

"I uh… he may have…"

"Go on Miss Rose, I assure you, Ms. Goodwitch and I have heard far worse." he attempted to reassure her.

"I think he tried to do smut."

His coffee nearly spilled onto the table, an event accompanied by Glynda's glasses falling onto her nose.

"He what?! The absolute cur!" He could hear the disciplinarian roar.

"Glynda, let us remain calm. While it is no doubt regrettable that Miss Rose was almost… compromised." He barely breathed that one out. "We can discuss that on a later date, in Beacon."

"In Beacon? Do you mean to suggest-?" Glynda asked.

"Yes, do you disapprove?" he asked her in return.

"She _is_ certainly skilled… and responsible enough to defend herself and foil a robbery." Glynda said, approval evident in her tone. She looked to him and nodded.

"Well then Miss Rose, how would you like to attend Beacon?" he asked. Surprised once more when her reaction had been a mix of happiness and something else he couldn't quite put a finger on. He disregarded the observation. It was likely just nerves getting to her.

He smiled as Glynda lead Ruby out of the room. The smile dropping the moment they left.

He would need to speak to the VPD and get Vale's criminal registry updated.

/-/

Ruby was relieved. She skittered down the street sighing in relief at finally getting past what she saw as the most sensitive part of the timeline. One wrong move could have ended her future at Beacon. In fact, she was certain Ozpin saw through her numerous times, yet had thought it was something else.

She smiled as she continued, happy that she had maintained the timeline in this case. The robbery had mostly gone the way it had last time. Hopefully this event hadn't made any major changes.

/-/

Cinder glared into the scroll, intently gazing into the picture. Silver eyes, red cloak, oversized scythe. Just who was this girl known as Ruby Rose? The fact that a fifteen-year-old girl had foiled a robbery by Vale's deadliest criminal was worrying, but could still be chalked up to luck.

What had annoyed her was how the girl had then pursued him, miraculously shot a fire Dust gem in Roman's hand, and proceeded to force her to enter the battle. The explosive ammunition nearly caused the Bullhead to crash, but Cinder had dealt with it in time.

What had actually caught her attention was the girl glaring at her. Almost as though she could see past the obscuring darkness of the Bullhead, straight into her eyes. It was interesting. Enough so that she would keep tabs on this Ruby Rose. A potential problem to her plans.

* * *

He had trained the usual way for the past year, speed and endurance, fairly certain he could run halfway across Remnant without stopping now. The Beacon entrance exam had been trivial to him, as always, something he always passed with flying colors.

As he entered the airship to Beacon he reflected on the events of the past year, specifically the events which had occurred eleven months ago. Maybe now that he was at Beacon he could finally find out what that cult was up to?

He took his usual seat near the very end, away from everyone else. He had no interest in getting attached any longer. With a bored yawn, his eyes flitted over to the screen in front of him, the news channel was on.

 _'In recent news, Vale's criminal registry has been updated, and in a shocking development, Vale's most wanted, Roman Torchwick, has been accused of attempted child assault!'_

' _It's a complete turn around from the typical robberies the criminal been committing so far Cyril. In fact the VPD has been forced to respond due to public outrage.'_

' _We're going over to the VPD Public Relations Officer now, he has a few words to say on the issue.'_

' _What has been the VPD's response to this new crime by Torchwick?'_

' _Thank you for asking Lisa. The VPD takes this crime very seriously. We're urging all citizens to keep their kids indoors at night and keep an eye out for a man wearing a white suit with a hat. Kids, if you see a funny orange haired man wearing mascara, run away and call the police.'_

An amused grunt escaped his mouth. Torchwick… tried to touch a kid? He couldn't help but almost laugh at the ridiculousness of that outcome. Just one more curveball that had never been thrown his way before. One more chaotic event which ripped the control away from his grasp.

His eyes fell downward as he realized how lost he was this time. If only he could just ask his friends about what they had been up to for the past year.

He looked around the airship. Pyrrha was in her usual spot, all the way on the other side, looking down at the floor. Ren and Nora were a few seats away from her, engaging in their usual banter. Yet, something caught his attention. Team RWBY were not in any of their original spots. Spots they usually always tended to gravitate towards. Instead they were all on the far side of the airship, facing away from him, looking out the window.

Oh well, there must have been something interesting outside. Who knew what it was.

It wasn't like they were intentionally avoiding him.

* * *

 **Next chapter: Initiation**

 **Chapter will be released by July 4** **th** **at the latest.**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This chapter's longer than usual, but I wouldn't get used to it. My standard length will still be 10k.**

* * *

 **Chapter 3 - Initiation**

* * *

It had been hard work, but she went through each day of her hellish training with an unbreakable determination. She and Ruby trained every day with Qrow at Signal Academy while Weiss and Blake had opted to continue training in the forests of Patch, a place where they had permanently lived for the past eleven months. The training was difficult, and it was a new experience for her, since she had never been _this_ dedicated to improving last time. But every time she had thoughts of quitting she simply remembered the bright flame heading toward her, the look on her sister's face, the resignation on Jaune's. She wouldn't let it happen this time. In fact, she was confident enough to say that she felt a whole lot stronger this time around, even more so than she had been when she fought Cinder.

She turned her head enough so that she could send a glance towards Weiss and Blake, who were awkwardly attempting to stare out the window from their respective spots. This time travel business was hard. How were they going to perfectly re-enact each moment anyways?

Her recollections and reflections were interrupted by a small tap from her little sister. Right. She was supposed to recreate the timeline so that Jaune wouldn't grow suspicious. She gave playboy a glance as she prepared to begin the old conversation, having forgotten a lot of the words, but still remembering the motions. He was all the way at the far end, away from them., although something about him caught her attention. Why wasn't he wearing his armor?

She cleared her head and looked to Ruby, trying to remember roughly how this moment had gone down last time. She smiled as she recalled how she was supposed to gush over Ruby going to Beacon and give her a big hug. That wasn't so bad!

"I can't believe you're going to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!" she exclaimed as she pulled Ruby into a crushingly tight hug.

"Please stop…" she heard her little sister mouth. She remembered what she was supposed to say next too.

"But I'm so proud of you!" she exclaimed as she kept her arms around her adorable little Ruby. She didn't exactly remember what happened next, but she was sure there was nothing wrong with keeping the hug.

"Yang… can't breathe… please." Oh. _That's_ what Ruby meant when she asked her to stop? She smiled sheepishly as she plopped her baby sister down. Nervously running a hand through her locks as Ruby gave her an adorable pout. Fortunately, she was saved by the news screen playing in front of them.

 _'The robbery was led by nefarious criminal and child assaulter, Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities despite the majority of Vale demanding his arrest. If you have any information regarding his whereabouts, for the sake of your children, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you Lisa.'_

 _Thank you, Cyril. In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights Protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. Between that and the angry mobs of citizens demanding Torchwick's arrest, the VPD certainly have their hands full. This development…'_

Yang almost burst out laughing at hearing Roman had been accused of child assault. She hated the thief's guts, yet found some small pleasure in knowing most of Vale's citizens felt the same way. It took an especially low manner of criminal to stoop to that level. She focused on the screen as Professor Goodwitch popped up, reciting the same words as last time. Words she remembered.

She placed a hand on her Ruby's shoulder as she paid attention.

 _'Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it…'_

The words caused a burning anger to well up within her. She knew the words were a lie. Did Beacon's professors not watch the screens? Did they not see the news of the White Fang and Torchwick which aired just a moment before? Her hand clenched, gripping hard onto whatever soft and warm thing it happened to be resting on. She closed her eyes for a split moment, the ruins of Beacon and Vale below, Cinder standing victorious. Her hand clenched further, not this time.

She turned to look at her sister, expecting to see the same determination in her eyes as well. Except she saw tears. Watery silver eyes locked onto her own, almost pleading for her to stop. Wait, stop? She finally looked to where her clenched hand was resting.

She gave her sister a nervously apologetic smile as she hastily pulled her hand off Ruby's shoulder. She had a feeling Ruby wasn't happy about that, as the little girl glared daggers at her.

As the airship neared Beacon Yang was greeted by a familiar sight. The view of Beacon and the rest of Vale.

"Yang look, we're home." she heard Ruby say. They were home, and this time she'd make sure it stayed in one piece. Glancing to her side she saw Ruby, a fiercely determined look on her face as well. She couldn't resist poking her adorable little sister's cheek.

* * *

As they left the ship and walked onto the Main Avenue, Yang spotted Jaune out of the corner of her eyes. She wouldn't dare think of making eye contact with him yet, but she was certain that he was looking at them, observing them. She nudged Ruby lightly, intending to get the message across that they needed to recreate her being left alone. She smirked when her little sister got the message.

She paid no heed to the words but instead smiled at Ruby's top-notch attempt to feign being interested in the weapons of random students passing by. She responded to the best of her ability and smirked when time came for her to get carried away by a crowd of her friends from Signal. Being popular was pretty fun sometimes.

She extended her arms wide in preparation for the coming crowd. Ten seconds passed, which slowly turned to half a minute as despair slowly mounted on Yang's face at the realization. She had no friends this time.

Her daily hellish training had estranged her from all the people who knew her. What was she supposed to do now? She visibly gulped at the effect this would have on her reputation. Ruby owed her one, she thought, as she walked off. Straight into a random group of students she had never met before, trying her best to blend in and appear like she knew them.

One of them turned around, meeting her gaze and giving her the most awkward of looks. She felt like shooting herself. "Can I help you?" the girl asked.

"Hey! How've you been!? It's been _sooo_ long since we caught up." Yang attempted to bluster, her face red with embarrassment.

"Uh… do I know you?" The question shattered whatever self esteem she had left. She quickly glanced to where Jaune was to see him still standing, no doubt looking at her. She needed to keep up this charade until she was out of his sight.

"Don't be like that! It's me don't you remember?!" She stammered out an awkwardly drawn out laugh. "You were always such a joker." she mouthed, patting the girl on the back.

The girl nervously looked to her friends for an answer, but before she could ask them, Yang dove in for a sure-fire killer.

"Are you and that guy still dating? How was he anyways?" the question seemed to have its preferred response as the girl's face lit up with tales to tell. Phew. She barely dodged a bullet on that one. Opting to ditch the group as soon as she turned a corner near the Auditorium.

She nervously wiped the sweat off her forehead, hoping that Weiss and Blake were faring better.

/-/

Weiss steeled her nerves as she carted her supply of Dust along with her. She didn't have her father's hired help to do it for her this time, yet she felt far better than she had last time. At first, she had run into trouble with maintaining her supply of Dust out in the wilderness, having no reliable source of it. She almost gave up on training her Dust use, until Blake offered her some 'assistance'. It took a lot of whining, fussing and attempts to maintain her dignity before she reluctantly agreed to learn the 'art' of borrowing things from Dust stores. It still bothered her, but she reminded herself that it was for the greater good.

She stepped forward, visualizing the scene in her mind. She needed to get Ruby to explode. How come nothing sane ever happened to her?

She confidently walked towards Ruby from behind, certain that things would play out as they did last time.

She was impressed. Ruby's state of surprise was masterfully executed. She almost found herself doubting whether it was fake. It wasn't.

Her dolt of a leader was surprised once more, bumping into the case and causing a cloud of Dust to spill onto both of them, knocking them down. Weiss groaned as she attempted to get up, except she inhaled a breath full of Dust.

/-/

Blake was confident. Having watched many Atlesian soap operas in preparation for her role. She knew just how to act it out like last time. She kept her facial expression as normal as possible as she approached the two.

She was slightly surprised to see both Ruby and Weiss knocked down, but chalked it up to a masterful performance on the Ice Queen's part. If anyone knew how to act, it was Weiss Schnee after all. With a confident stride Blake stepped forward.

If Weiss had decided to do things slightly differently, then it meant she needed to do so as well. Sure, things were slightly off plan, but what good actor didn't know how to improvise? Confident in her acting skill, she stepped toward them, just outside of where the blast radius from last time would be.

Perfect, she was going to nail her role in an award-winning performance. But why were both Ruby and Weiss about to sneeze?

 **BOOM!**

The deafening explosion sounded across the Main Avenue which had gone awkwardly silent. She opened her eyes to see herself covered in black soot as well. How on Remnant had they managed to mess up a simple scene _this_ badly?

She shook the soot off herself and glanced to where Jaune was supposed to be. No doubt he had seen through them.

Except he was gone.

Why?

* * *

He didn't have the time to care about their antics. It was only halfway through Yang's weird act that he had reminded himself of such. He couldn't afford to care, and he couldn't afford to get attached. Staying for a moment longer would only have lead to him helping Ruby again.

Admittedly it was interesting to watch Yang flounder about and attempt to get away from Ruby without any friends to save her, yet he knew it was a waste of time. All the new changes in this repeat could be traced back to the insane cult that had invaded Remnant. A cult with an agenda he needed to discover.

He had walked away, barely sparing a glance to Weiss leaving the airship, carting her own Dust for the first time. It interested him, just not enough for him to stay. He'd have to ask her where she acquired the Dust later. Perhaps one of the cultists had helped her acquire it?

As he walked to the Auditorium he recalled how he had helped Ruby to her feet last time. Although he was for the most part, quiet, he couldn't help but remember how the simple act of helping her up had sparked the friendship between them. Even after the event, throughout the year, she never seemed to mind his anti-social behaviour and odd quirks. She had come to accept him. The thought struck a dangerous feeling inside him, one he simply couldn't afford to allow. He sighed as he entered the Auditorium, the recollection having drained him.

Except, he caught sight of a figure near the entrance. A person that always made him smile when he was down. Somebody who always helped him cope after particularly crushing repeats.

Jaune had a delighted smile on his face as he spotted his buddy Cardin. The boy was facing the other way, talking to someone, bragging about his accomplishments no doubt. But he'd make the time for his old pal Jaune right? Of course he would.

With a big smile on his face he walked up behind Cardin and shifted his weight just enough so that his 'friendly bump' caused the boy to go tumbling down onto the other guy he was talking to. As Cardin attempted to scramble to his feet Jaune 'playfully stepped' on Cardin's hand. He heard something crack, but unfortunately couldn't stick around to keep playing, instead disappearing into the crowd of students right after. Cardin really was a good sport.

As he walked to the back of the Auditorium he laughed to himself hearing the eruption of yelling and blustering coming from where he had been a few moments earlier.

Messing around with Cardin was always a fun pastime.

* * *

They had made sure to stand where they had last time, with Weiss having planned to come in later and with Blake in her spot, away from the rest. Ruby felt bad at seeing Blake all alone in the corner and thus decided to send her a quick smile, one that cheered her teammate up.

Her own smile quickly fell however. Recalling the differences had made her uneasy. Why did Jaune not help her up this time? Why wasn't Jaune wearing his armor? Why was he all the way at the back of the Auditorium away from everyone else?

She looked to Yang, maybe her older sister could help her figure it out. She nudged Yang, looking up at her once she got her sister's attention.

"Yang… why is Jaune acting so weird this time?" she asked her sister in a whisper.

Yang looked down at her, thinking about what to say. "Well… maybe he doesn't do the same thing every time?"

She nodded at hearing this. If they had changed so much and done things so differently this time, how could she expect Jaune to be any different? Yet, the fact that he hadn't helped her this time still pricked away at her.

"But he didn't even help me up this time, and he isn't wearing his armor either." she explained to Yang. "Nobody changes their gear just like that."

She saw Yang's eyebrow raise at her points. She was about to say something if not for Weiss coming in from behind. She knew this moment, she had to leap into Yang's arms and make a show, and leap she did, straight into the hard floor.

She landed on her rear, glaring up at Yang who seemed lost in thought and noticed far too late.

"Uh… oops?" she heard her sister attempt to console. She glared at Yang before standing up and looking at Weiss. A certain part of her was relieved that Jaune was too far away to hear them. That way they could get away with not actually fighting.

"Okay Weiss, let's do this." she said, prepared to take whatever her partner was about to dish out. All they had to do was make it look like they were arguing.

"Oh, I'm improvising. There won't be a need for that now." she heard Weiss reply. What on Remnant was her partner saying? They had to argue to keep Jaune's suspicions off them.

"What do you mean there won't be a need? He's going to see right through us if you don't! You're Weiss Schnee, you're supposed to be getting angry at me!" Ruby exclaimed, exasperation in her voice.

"What do you mean I'm Weiss Schnee and I'm _supposed_ to be getting angry? I'll have you know that I would _never_ lecture somebody else for something I too made the mistake of doing! I am _not_ a hypocrite!" Weiss berated her. Her partner could be so stubborn at times, much to her annoyance.

"I'm not saying that you are! But we need to make it look like we're arguing!" she returned at Weiss. If her partner thought she was going to stay shut and comply on the issue, she was dead wrong. Ruby Rose was _not_ a pushover.

"No, we do _not_!" Weiss exclaimed. The both of them turned to Yang, who had an annoying amused look on her face.

"You know it looks like you two are fighting anyways right?" Yang commented, much to the ire of Weiss who gave the blonde a sharp glare. Looks like Ruby won this round.

Before Weiss could fume and launch a rant at Yang, Ozpin grabbed the attention of the crowd, about to begin his speech. She never really understood what he had meant the first time around, yet this time when the headmaster spoke, she could finally understand.

"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." She had the knowledge of what would happen this time, yet the memories by themselves would never help her win. It was up to them to take the first step. Up to them to take the initiative and make things right this time. Jaune had the knowledge, yet even with the amount he knew, he could not do anything to stop what was to come.

She nodded at the headmaster's words of wisdom, having finally received the meaning behind them.

* * *

Ozpin sighed. Having to make up a random meaningless speech every year was a trying task. Make it too short and the students would see through the obvious farce, make it too long and they would fall asleep. Striking the perfect middle ground was difficult. A middle ground where the speech was long and vague enough so that each student could draw their own meaning, yet short enough that they wouldn't get bored. He sipped his coffee as he sat in his chair. Glynda, Peter and Bartholomew seated across from him.

He decided to quit delaying and get the meeting started. After all, it wasn't every year that they received such an interesting batch of students.

"I must say, it has been an interesting start to the year." he remarked, hoping to get the discussion started. "Let us have a word about this year's candidates. Of particular note are four, very talented and special young ladies."

"Indeed, why, when I first heard of this Yang Xiao Long I was taken aback! A Huntress of such skill and prowess is a rarity in these days. Did you know she was top of her class at Signal Academy?" Peter began the discussion as Ozpin pondered the words. Miss Xiao Long was interesting. She along with her sister had drawn his attention eleven months ago when Qrow informed him of their newly found dedication to training.

"Yes, Miss Xiao Long is interesting. In fact, Qrow tells me that she trained very hard in the months leading up to Beacon. A dedication we encourage in all our Huntsmen and Huntresses." he replied.

"Admirable qualities. If her test scores and spar records are to be believed she is likely skilled enough to meet and exceed third, and I daresay, even fourth year qualifications." Bartholomew added. He was right, it wasn't often his school received aspiring Huntresses of such a high caliber. He had no doubt that Miss Xiao Long would do well, and in time, come to be a valuable asset to Vale and its people.

They all nodded to the words, all in agreement as to Miss Xiao Long's skill and bright future.

"What about this Blake Belladonna? A Faunus girl with no verifiable history before the entrance exam, yet who humiliated her examiner in a shocking display of skill." Glynda asked, steering the discussion onto their next candidate of interest.

"While I have some concerns about where she learned to fight, I have no doubt that Miss Belladonna will be a fine candidate for Beacon. Her history is of some concern; however, I shall be keeping an eye on it." He replied, attempting to assuage her concerns. Beacon had in the past, accepted students from varying backgrounds, and he saw no reason to deprive Miss Belladonna of the opportunity.

"I see no fault in your decision Headmaster, but what of Weiss Schnee?" Bartholomew asked him. A good question, and one that needed to be discussed seeing as Jacques Schnee had bombarded him with calls the moment she set foot onto the airship for Beacon.

"I see naught but a very skilled and determined young woman." he replied, hoping to leave it at that. He sighed, realizing that his deputies likely wanted to know more on the issue between her and Jacques. "While I am not aware of why Miss Schnee has chosen to distance herself from her father, I am also in no position to turn her away from Beacon. She displayed remarkable skill in her entrance exam, skill which more than qualifies her to be given a chance at attending Beacon."

"What of Jacques Schnee? What if he decides to demand the return of his daughter?" Glynda asked him.

"Then he shall have to answer to myself and the Council of Vale as to why he thinks abducting a young woman against her wishes is acceptable." he curtly replied, no hesitation in his voice. There were certain lines Jacques would not find so easy to cross.

"Of course Headmaster, but I do worry about the publicity her appearance at Beacon will receive." Glynda replied, it was a good point. "I'm certain neither of us want a horde of reporters showing up at our port."

"I will admit that I was not expecting Miss Schnee to suddenly appear and apply for Beacon. Yet it is a burden we must bear, after all, we happen to have the famous Pyrrha Nikos applying as well." he said, realizing that certain hardships could not be avoided.

"I see, and what of this Ruby Rose? I trust you had good reason for inviting her to Beacon two years early?" Oobleck asked.

"Miss Rose is skilled enough to foil a robbery by Roman Torchwick, nearly prevent his escape and engage an opponent on the level of a professional Huntress. Alone." Glynda added. A light smirk crept onto his face at her words. Impressing Glynda was something very few could claim.

"If she is as good as you say, then I have no doubt that she will fit into Beacon well." Oobleck replied, nodding his head in approval.

"Yes, although I do need to ask a favour of you Bartholomew." he added, remembering the issue that needed to be discussed further at Beacon.

"Ask and I shall see if I can oblige." the doctor replied.

"Miss Rose may have gone through a rather… stressful situation during her fight against Roman Torchwick." he said, unsure of how to word the issue.

"How so? Wait… you don't mean to say that…"

"Yes, that is exactly what I'm saying. Torchwick's most heinous crime happened there. For her sake, I would like for her to attend counselling with you." he asked, concern on his face for the young Huntress who would in time, grow to be far more important than she knew.

"Consider it done." the doctor replied.

"Thank you, Bartholomew. Now then, if there is nothing to be added, let us adjourn for the evening." Ozpin said as he gestured the teachers to depart his office.

They bade him their farewells and left, leaving him all alone with the files on his table. Four of them opened to show the four girls that had been the subject of their discussion. Yet beneath the four, there lay a fifth one.

Titled 'Jaune Arc'.

He had initially thought of reviewing the young man's file, yet upon hearing of the four other candidates he changed his mind. With a sigh, he placed the file in the pile with all the other candidates who were not particularly noteworthy.

Jaune Arc was just another applicant.

* * *

Ruby tried to look as nonchalant as possible while pretending to pen words down. Not sure of whether Jaune was looking or not she decided to play it safe.

A tap on the head from Yang broke her out of it however.

"You can quit your performance now, he's asleep." she heard her sister mouth. Finally. Having to remember exactly what she did last time was a tiring exercise in futility. She was certain she fumbled a dozen details between now and Professor Ozpin's speech.

"I don't get it, why's he so different this time?" she asked, hoping Yang would have an answer for her now. "He looks… tired."

"I don't know Ruby… but I thought about it, and maybe he's tired of losing." Yang replied. What did she mean losing?

"Well, you've seen how he acts right? There's no way he's new to this." Ruby began to realize the horrifying point Yang was making. "I think he's tired of losing all the time."

The thought made Ruby cringe. How many times did Jaune try and fail to save them? The moment he spoke of his semblance right before their death, she knew he had been doing it for a while. Yet the thought of how he felt each time never really struck her.

She wanted to go over and wake him up, break the good news to him. Yet she knew she couldn't. Causing a scene in the ballroom would lead to problems that could spell disaster for them all.

The feeling of being unable to help caused a strange feeling to well inside her. Frustration.

She shook her head, dispelling the strange thought. Everything would be fine. They would break it to Jaune tomorrow after Initiation.

Her train of thought was interrupted by Yang once again. Was her older sister _this_ annoying last time?

"Do we have a plan for Initiation?" Her sister asked.

"How about we have a team meeting about it?" she replied.

"Let's talk to Blake and Weiss. Maybe they can help too."

They got up and headed for where Blake was sitting. Leaning against the wall, she was reading the same book as last time. Ruby was impressed. Blake had really planned this re-enactment out. Well, besides getting blown up alongside her and Weiss. Good thing Jaune didn't see that.

"He's asleep. You don't have to read the same book again." Yang greeted her partner.

"I never finished it." Blake replied with a smirk. "So, I assume you want to talk about something?"

"Yep! We need a plan for tomorrow." she quickly parroted.

"Okay… you remember where you landed and what you did right?" Blake asked her.

"Uh… the details aren't important?" she sheepishly replied.

"They are." Weiss's voice sounded from behind. "I don't know where you landed last time, but I was headed north. That means you were too." Weiss explained.

"North. Got it." She mentally noted.

"Good. I assume you two also know where you're meeting?" Weiss asked.

"I was the one who found Yang, so you can leave my side of it to me." Blake replied. "Just be sure to do what you did last time." she said to her partner.

"So, we all know where to meet, but what about confronting Arc? We can't just do that _anywhere_." Weiss explained. Good point, they needed a place where there were no cameras or people, but was there such a spot in Beacon?

"I know a place. It's an empty classroom behind Professor Port's class. It has no cameras." Blake replied.

"How did you hear of it anyways?" Yang asked Blake.

"Coco told me." Blake replied.

"Oh really, what do they use the room for?" Yang asked the girl.

Ruby raised an eyebrow at Blake uttering a cross between a cough and a sputter. "It's not important."

"Right…" Yang drawled, doubt in the blonde's voice. "Anyway, we need to get some sleep for our big day tomorrow."

Yang was right. Tomorrow was an important day for them. Tomorrow would decide everything, their teams, their plans and their future. They couldn't afford to be tired when the morning came.

Stifling a short yawn, she nodded to Blake and Weiss and turned for her bedroll, even though she knew she wouldn't be getting any sleep.

* * *

His eyes simply opened, a habit he had acquired after a few hundred repeats. He wasn't sure if it was a good thing, but it did grant him the benefit of being able to wake up without a noise.

He had a good night's sleep.

When he had first started this looping business, he had been paranoid, unable to get any sleep, always on guard and constantly stressed for the time he would wake. He had learned roughly two thousand lives ago that it wasn't worth it.

Stress or no stress, whatever happened would occur as it always did. The lesson had been learnt through much death, pain and frustration, but it stuck. If you're going to die, why throw away a good night's sleep over it?

He scanned the room and looked to the light streaming in through the window. Everyone else was sleeping. Typical. He always tended to wake up early compared to everyone else. His last life had been an interesting case. Where he would normally use the early mornings to laze in bed, or simply grab an early breakfast, last repeat had been the opposite. He had used each morning to train hard, determined to prevail, giving every waking moment his utmost. Yet he had failed.

Pointless.

He certainly wasn't going to be training now that he was awake, thus his mind drifted to the next, more tempting option. Grabbing an early breakfast.

He quietly got to his feet, stepping down the Ballroom floor in complete silence. He knew where his friends were sleeping. As he walked he could see them out of the corner of his eyes, yet he dared not look. He wouldn't make the same painful mistake he had made so many times.

His eyes focused ahead, to the exit, the only thing on his mind being his breakfast.

His vision moved of its own accord. He cursed his lack of self control as his eyes traveled to the sleeping forms of his friends, his team.

Pyrrha, nothing out of the ordinary with her. Although if anyone thought that was the norm for the rest, they were in for a rude awakening.

Nora, sprawled out across her bedroll, almost unconsciously pulled toward Ren, her arms wrapped around the quiet boy. Ren himself was snoring normally, albeit with a slight frown on his face. How Ren managed to put up with the hyperactive Nora was a secret he had never truly understood throughout his lives.

His eyes then floated over to Team RWBY, each of them sleeping in their own, unique ways. Yang was sprawled out across her bedroll, her face obscured by her golden locks. Blake was snoring quietly, her bow collapsed atop her head, yet rising ever so slightly every once in a while. Her face held a slight frown. Strange. Blake never held any frowns on the night before Initiation.

He pacified his mind with a simple explanation. The cult had done something. All changes this time could be traced back to them.

He held back a yawn as he looked to Weiss, the former heiress snoring with a tired look on her face. Weiss usually slept well before Initiation, yet a few times had managed to get nervous enough to skip sleep altogether. That must have been the reason for her exhaustion Jaune thought.

He finally looked to Ruby. She was turned away from him, barring any proper look at her face. Though, it did strike him as odd at how she was clenching her pillow tightly. Strange.

As he neared the exit, his viewpoint finally hit the angle where he could view her face.

She was… stressed? Her normally uplifting and energetic expression was instead replaced by one of worry and exhaustion. That wasn't right. Ruby Rose never let Initiation get to her _that_ badly.

Something was off, and he didn't know what. The thought frustrated him. He was always in control, _always_. He always had an answer to everything, knew exactly what would happen even if he couldn't do anything to stop it. This was a new experience.

Well, not exactly new, but the revisiting of an old one. An event he had stopped experiencing after his first hundred lives. The feeling of not knowing.

It caused anger to well up within him. This cult was going to have hell to pay if they had done something to Ruby.

He took a deep breath, letting it out along with his barely leashed anger. He needed to grab breakfast.

/-/

The Dining Hall was mostly empty save for a few cooks preparing breakfast behind the counter. A sight which had always held true each time he woke up before everyone else. He idly strolled over to the counter, grabbed a plate, and slapped some scrambled eggs, bacon and a slice of toast onto it. As he did he heard one of the cooks jabber on about how nobody woke up this early. He had heard it a thousand times. Still, it was refreshing to see that not everything had changed.

He took his plate and went over to a table near the exit, facing the wall. He had tried that last time, but Ruby had dragged him over to her and Yang's table. His punishment for helping her up he supposed. Good thing he hadn't done it this time.

He began to chow down his breakfast, recalling the period of his lives when he had been incapable of eating even a quarter of what he currently had on his plate. The period he had been depressed.

He was a physical and emotional wreck back then. Two thousand futile attempts at saving your loved ones and dying each time tended to do that to a man.

Strange eating habits, weird sleeping patterns, complete apathy to everything? He had it all and was a wreck at that time.

He hadn't even been aware of what he was going through himself. It had finally taken an accidental slip-up leading to an appointment with Doctor Oobleck, to get him to realize what was going on. The good doctor had quickly seen through all of Jaune's lies and attempts to explain away his self-destructive behaviour.

The doctor told his team, and he was placed under their stringent care afterward. Some of the best memories of his lives.

Although he eventually failed as usual, he decided to take the initiative and deal with his quirks from that repeat onwards.

Eating normally had been quite the chore, as had been getting his sleep under control. And while he managed to get most of his issues under control, he was certain he still suffered the problem of being lazy and apathetic to most things, alongside a host of other problems. Yet, he had done the best he could with what he had.

Staying in a depressed stupor wouldn't have helped him in any way, and thus, it was with a glimmer of pride that Jaune Arc could say, he was mentally fine for the last thousand repeats. Mostly. Although he couldn't have done it without turning to something else for help.

At first it had been base desires, things such as alcohol and physical pleasure, yet the remedial nature of those had faded after a hundred lives. He then turned to things of a deeper, more emotional nature. He had sought meaningful relationships with people. He had initially tried going after those he cared about once more, the very trap that had lead him into his former depression. Although, as expected, he had his heart broken once more. Still, he would not give up, instead opting to try relationships with strangers, people he never met before. A pointless endeavour. None of them gave him what he truly wanted, no matter how hard he or they tried, they could never be what he was looking for. Still, he had one more thing he could always turn to.

After the flames of love had burnt him once more, he turned to other things. Things lacking in emotion, yet cathartic and deeply satisfying in their own way. His good buddy Cardin was one of those things. The boy was always a good sport and just loved messing around with his pal Jaune, and what other way to repay such a great friend than by reciprocating the friendly games? For the next nine hundred lives Jaune had always made sure to spend quality time with his best pal.

Unlike the dangerous consequences of falling in love, nothing bad could come of taking this particular outlet of his too far, right?

The answer came to him in the form of vivid memories of his tortures of the White Fang, of him torturing her.

He nearly choked on his food as the recollections entered his mind. His plate was mostly finished, yet he couldn't be bothered to clear the rest. With an exhausted yawn, he left the table and made way for the exit, intending on heading to the locker rooms to grab his gear before any of them could show up.

As he exited the Dining Hall and was about to turn the corner to the Locker Rooms, he caught a brief sight of Blake. It was typical, she was always the earliest riser among her team. He turned the corner not intending on sparing her a second look. Although, from the corner of his eyes, he could have sworn he saw her eyes widen in panic.

Must have been his mind playing tricks on him.

As he strode down the hallway he caught sight of his best buddy. Cardin was in a playful mood today, hence the boy tried to give Jaune a shove as he walked by. Cardin, what a joker he was, now how could Jaune let his pal go without returning the friendly gesture?

Jaune smiled as he brought his left foot out while angling his shoulder forward. He knew just where to return the playful shove.

With a clatter, his best buddy fell onto his face, the noise of his armor ringing throughout the hallway. He smiled as he stood over the boy. Was Cardin trying to get to his feet? He knew just how to make his buddy's day better.

Putting his hands in his pockets, Jaune hooked a foot under Cardin's supporting leg and pulled it out from under him. The result being another clatter as the boy fell to the ground. Cardin growled, about to turn and look to his assailer, about to rise again, when another foot pulled out his supporting hand, sending the boy back to his knees.

The debacle went on for a full minute, Cardin attempting to rise, and Jaune swiftly kicking out his supporting limb. The boy's breaths grew faster and more desperate, being sent back to his knees each time he attempted to get up was having its effect on him.

Cardin grunted, about to attempt getting to his feet once more, although being expectant of Jaune's moves.

Jaune simply smiled and took a few paces back as a group of students turned the corner and came upon the scene. Cardin's already red face contorted in a strange manner at seeing them.

Almost on cue Jaune loudly announced. "You alright there buddy? That was a pretty hard trip you took."

"What do you mean trip?! You…"

"Are you telling me an aspiring Huntsman like yourself was somehow defeated in a hallway? I mean the only other person here is me. I couldn't hurt a fly _and_ my hands are in my pockets." Jaune interrupted.

Cardin's face went red, stopping himself from yelling. He attempted to say something, to get up and sock Jaune in the jaw, something he was about to do until somebody else came along.

Turning the corner was Glynda Goodwitch. Her arrival caused the group of students to immediately clear as she stepped toward Jaune and Cardin who was still on his knees.

"Would anyone care to explain what is going on here?" Glynda, always the strict disciplinarian.

"I…"

"He tripped." Jaune interjected.

Cardin was about to contest that, but some sense of rationality seemed to enter his head at the last moment as he decided against it. The alternative explanation being far more humiliating.

"I… tripped." the boy barely stammered out.

Glynda looked between Cardin and Jaune a few times before reluctantly nodding. "Then you may wish to get yourself off the ground Mr. Winchester, it is not befitting of an aspiring Huntsman to go around tripping in plain hallways."

Jaune smiled at Glynda's honest words. She really did have a knack for offering accurate observations. Cardin's face turned red from the remark. No doubt the boy was grateful for Professor Goodwitch's constructive feedback.

He turned and began to walk off toward the Locker Rooms, and as he did he spoke. "You going to stay there all day buddy?"

"What's it to you?!" Cardin venomously spat.

"Whoa, easy there. I was just being nice. I mean, it's okay if you do that. I won't judge." Jaune said as he walked off. "Didn't know you liked getting on your knees." he announced loudly.

He smiled to himself as the sounds of raucous laughter could be heard behind him. Cardin always brought a smile to Jaune's day.

* * *

His little quibble with Cardin had cost him time. Time he might have been able to use to slip in and out of the locker rooms without seeing his friends. He sighed, walking past Nora and Ren who were engaged in their usual banter at this time.

He didn't intend to look or care about it however, instead simply opting to walk ahead.

Walking past Ruby and Yang he overhears the familiar conversation from last time, although something was off. He knew what Ruby and Yang sounded like. That wasn't their genuine tone. Were they hiding something? No. It must have been the cult he thought, they changed this aspect of the timeline too. He needed to move fast to discover their aims, preferably right after Initiation.

As he strode to his locker he saw Weiss and Pyrrha engaged in their typical conversation. Although Weiss's face looked… forced. Although that was the least of what caught his attention. Why were there random people talking to her?

/-/

Her original plan had been to recreate as much of the past conversation with Pyrrha as possible, yet that plan had gone to hell as quickly as it took these random students to come up to her.

In hindsight, she knew running away from her father would have consequences, yet she didn't expect them to show up here of all places.

"Aren't you the missing Schnee heiress? You were all over the news a year ago." one of the students said.

"Yeah, everyone was wondering why you were missing." The other one added. "So, why were you missing?" the nosy girl prodded.

Weiss's hands clenched into fists. There went any attempt at recreating the timeline. She turned to the nosy strangers with a glare that could freeze fire solid. Naturally befitting herself of course.

The glare seemed to have its intended effect as the students awkwardly shifted around, and instead focused their attention on Pyrrha.

Could this day get any worse?

She forced down a nervous gulp as she spotted Jaune coming their way. He would see right through her pathetic farce. She nearly began sweating until she realized that he had walked right past everyone else without so much a batting an eyelash. The situation could still be salvaged as long as he didn't pay too much attention.

In fact, it looked as though he was planning on walking past them too. That was wrong. Why wasn't he starting a casual conversation with Pyrrha?

Perhaps he did things differently each time, she rationalized. Excellent. That meant he wouldn't pay attention to her terrible acting. The random strangers could still be chalked off to her celebrity status from running away.

Perfect, now all he had to do was keep walking, hopefully nothing would change that.

/-/

"You're the famous Pyrrha Nikos! I'm such a fan!" he heard the student mouth. The one thing Pyrrha hated, being reminded of her celebrity status. Seeing the rabid fan idolize her made him want to punch the idiot.

But no, he had resolved to stay away from them this time. He wouldn't have even had to go through this if he didn't mess around with Cardin.

He stared ahead about to walk past the enthused fan just when he felt a hand on his shoulder. Great.

"Hey, did you know that this is Pyrrha Nikos?! And that's Weiss Schnee!"

"Who?" Crap.

It was too late. The words may have been uttered through complete reflex, but the damage was done. He didn't need to meet her eyes to see Pyrrha's contemplative gaze upon him. Now she wanted him as her partner. Just flipping great.

He looked to Weiss to see a weird combination between panic and shock. That bit was explainable however. She just didn't want any extra attention on her after running away from her father he thought.

Without a single word, he shoved past the idiot and headed for the exit as the speakers sounded with Glynda's voice.

 _'Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately.'_

It was a decent excuse for leaving that situation abruptly in case anyone asked. Not that he needed it.

Unfortunately for him, the voice of a familiar hyperactive girl sounded from behind.

"Ren did you see that guy?! He just walked away like one of those Atlesian action stars! Maybe we should meet him!" He inwardly scoffed at her characterization of him. Hero? Maybe in an alternate universe where he managed to gain some super power and save everyone on the first try. Not in this nightmare.

He turned around and looked Nora in the eye, as nonchalantly as possible, trying to convey that he wasn't interested in whatever she was selling.

"I'm Nora, this is Ren, what's your name!?" he heard her exclaim. Great, now not only was Pyrrha interested in having him as her partner, but he had caught Nora's attention too? Of all the lives in which he could have drawn unwanted attention _this_ had to be one?

"Jaune." he replied, with as much lack of emotion in his tone as he could muster.

Nora seemed taken aback for a moment at his response. Good. Just what he wanted. Except, her eyes lit up immediately after.

"Oh my God! You're almost as cool as Ren!" A fact he would pointedly disagree on, but with Nora as the judge, a fair ruling was out of reach. "Were you trained by ninjas? Are you some former criminal out to redeem his past? Oh my… are you… are you a time traveler?!" His eyebrow visibly twitched at her question.

Nora was scarily competent at seeing right through him at all times. The only options when it came to throwing her off were, dodge the question, or simply stay silent. At the moment, the latter option was looking very appealing.

He silently stared at her, a bored expression on his face.

"See Ren, he's just like the guy in that Atlesian spy film, what was his name? Pond? Something Pond." Okay, he was nothing like that guy. He turned to walk away, realizing that Ren wouldn't have saved him from Nora anytime soon, being in the half-dead state of sleep deprivation that the boy was in.

As he walked away he inwardly cringed at hearing Nora declare to Ren how they had found someone who was, as she put it, 'crazy-cool'.

He released an exhausted sigh as he approached the locker room exit. Holding it in was an exercise in futility and suffering. The sickeningly addicting feelings he held toward them. A dangerous emotion which had always hurt him more often than not. Something he thought he needed to get rid of if he wanted to finally win this game.

At least his buddy Cardin was there to provide moral support. He saw his pal talking to a group of kids who would never pass Initiation, his mace slung over his shoulder. Jaune smiled as he quietly walked toward Cardin from behind while pulling out a small pin he kept in his hoodie's pocket.

When was the last time his buddy had changed the Fire Dust Gem on his weapon anyways? Oh well, Jaune was only doing his pal a favor after all.

He walked past the boy from behind and stuck the pin directly into a specific fissure in the gem. Cardin never noticed the move, his mace slung over his shoulder.

As Jaune left the locker room he inwardly laughed at the sound of an explosion ringing behind him. Cardin owed him one.

* * *

He stood on his launch pad, eagerly awaiting the feeling of being shot through the air. Flying without a vehicle was a rather uncommon experience for him, and Initiation was the only time he ever really got to savour it. Well, besides the few hundred times Cinder had throw him off the CCT. But he hadn't really enjoyed those flights.

He had memorized the landing locations of each pad, knowing exactly where he landed for each one. It also gave him the ability to essentially pick his partner each time, since he could veer over to anyone's landing location after touchdown. Yet, lately, for the last few hundred repeats he had been sticking with his original launch pad. He saw no further reason to play around with the placement of teams any longer. Breaking team RWBY or his own team apart felt unnatural to him, even though he got along well with just about any combination of teams.

The clomping of heavy boots on the grass cut off his thoughts. He would recognize those steps anywhere. It was good old Cardin.

The boy hastily ran to the launch pads, taking heavy breaths the entire way as he approached Professor Goodwitch.

"Professor… I got delayed, my Dust Gem blew up." Cardin barely breathed out, his lungs going through a dilemma of their own.

Glynda looked Cardin dead in the eyes with a glare that nearly made the boy quiver in his boots. With a sigh, the professor ran a hand over her face. Pure disappointment evident in her expression.

"I heard." she mouthed. "Blowing up your fellow candidates due to your own callous disregard for maintaining your weapon is not a good first impression Mr. Winchester."

Jaune lightly smirked. Glynda really was the best teacher at Beacon. Who else could provide such concise and helpful feedback?

Cardin's face fell at her words, unable to find a proper rely he simply hung his head low and walked over to an empty launch pad.

As Jaune watched his pal take a spot he decided to help him out. What kind of man wouldn't help his buddy out in his time of need?

He craned his head forward and gave Cardin a smile.

The boy turned his head to fix a glare at him, still breathing deeply from his last-minute run.

"Those are some deep breaths. You might want to work on your cardio buddy." Solid advice. The best way to help his good chum. The fact that he had loudly announced it to the rest of the candidates and caused sniggers and barely concealed laughter was just a bonus.

Cardin's glare was nothing short of fatal. He looked as though he was caught between wanting to murder Jaune, or murder everyone else who had laughed at the comment.

Jaune held the smile and gave Cardin an enthusiastic thumbs up to reassure him for the coming test. What kind of person would he be if he didn't provide moral support to his best bud when he needed it the most?

For some reason Jaune's gesture caused Cardin's face to turn a bright red, almost as though he was barely concealing something. He knew what it was. It was the flame of inspiration of course!

He broke the gaze while smiling to himself for being able to get his pal all fired up with his inspirational gesture. No doubt Cardin would perform much better now.

He involuntarily glanced to his side for a quick look at Ruby. Did she just cast an awkward side glance at him? He decided to look to make sure he wasn't seeing things. If anyone warranted a closer look this repeat it was Ruby Rose.

/-/

A nervous bead of sweat rolled down her forehead as she barely held a straight face at Jaune's scrutiny. She needed to avoid looking at him, and she needed to keep a straight face. Yet, she wasn't sure of how long she could keep it up without cracking. She needed a distraction and she needed one now.

She rigidly moved her gaze to the sky and called to her sister.

/-/

"Yang look! What nice clouds we're having today!" he heard the girl exclaim, turning away from him and to her older sister.

He raised an eyebrow at seeing Yang join in as well, appearing far more passionate than he thought her capable of.

"Wow! Those are some good-looking clouds! I give them a solid eight out of ten!" he heard Yang reply.

He had never figured Ruby and Yang as being the type to gush over clouds, and in fact, they had never gushed over clouds at all before. It was slightly odd, but then again, they _had_ been brainwashed by an insane cult, so by this point, anything was possible when it came to them. Perhaps the cultists had a weird ritual involving clouds? He would get to the bottom of it soon enough.

He looked away as Ozpin began his routine exposition about the test alongside Glynda. He had heard the speech thousands of times, yet one part always scared and intrigued him.

"That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"See? I told you!" Nora was scary. To this day he still hadn't discovered the answer to how she knew that along with a slew of other things. Perhaps she had another semblance alongside her electricity absorption? He never found out, and from the looks of it, neither had Ren.

As Ozpin finished the rest of his instructions Jaune sighed. This repeat was exhausting. Between the constant pulling of his desire to meet them, the constant fear of dealing with their loss and the introduction of these crazed cloud loving cultists, he was beat.

Out of steam, out of will and out of craps to give. He knew that was the reason he hadn't looked into things too closely, the reason he hadn't gotten his armor, and the reason he hadn't bothered to meet his friends. His flame was out.

Jaune Arc had no motivation to try. He knew it, and his actions reflected it. He knew that if he had looked into things closer from the moment the cult showed up he could have found something.

He shook his head clear of the thought and instead looked to the sky. What was Ruby thinking? The clouds were plain today.

Whatever, he had a flight to enjoy.

* * *

Blake soared through the air with practiced elegance, touching down the way she had last time. Recalling her memories, she dashed off in Yang's direction, intending on finding her partner before anyone else did.

She smirked at hearing the familiar sounds of shotgun gauntlets in the distance. Yang was nearby.

As she idly walked to the edge of the clearing she caught sight of Yang utterly demolishing scores of Beowolves and Ursai effortlessly. She almost moved into action as the last one was about to attack her partner from behind, yet stopped as soon as the blonde brawler turned around and massacred it in a single punch.

"And you didn't even help with the last one." Yang mouthed off. "Some partner you are." Blake raised an eyebrow in amusement, she wasn't _that_ easy to bait.

"You had him." she replied with a smirk.

"Damn right I did! And you know the best part?" Yang asked. "It didn't even touch my hair this time." she rolled her eyes at Yang's self glorifying expression.

"Don't let it get to your head." she replied, cutting off her partner's enthusiastic high. "We have a temple to get to."

"Oh yeah. Aren't we the only ones who just… you know? Walked there?" Yang asked. Yang was right. Out of all the other people she saw at the temple, only her and Yang had actually arrived the normal way. Jaune and Pyrrha lead the Deathstalker to the temple, Ren and Nora rode an Ursa, and Ruby and Weiss flew in on a Nevermore. Blake couldn't help but silently thank fate sometimes. Out of everyone, she had the sanest partner in Beacon.

"Good point." Blake agreed. "I don't particularly feel like riding an Ursa or a Nevermore to the temple."

"Yeah… but it could be fun!" a glare from Blake cut that line of thought. "Fine, fine. You're no fun." Yang pouted. "If we're going to grab a relic on time, we might as well get walking then."

Blake nodded, and the two set off.

/-/

She had dreaded spotting the red speedster once, opting to walk away when they made eye contact. In hindsight, she realized how wrong she was. Ruby was the best partner one could have. Energetic, uplifting and reliable.

She held out a hand as she spotted her partner's telltale red visage speeding towards her, smiling when their hands smacked together.

"Took you long enough, is it just me or did you get slower?" she poked at Ruby, smiling at her leader's pout.

"I did not! I made it here in ten seconds this time! Which is way faster than the minute it took me last time." she heard Ruby protest. "Although… I might have forgotten which way North is." Ruby sheepishly replied. Weiss ran a hand over her face in disappointment, yet, she couldn't deny that Ruby had improved. She knew she was far faster this time, but ten seconds? That was impressive. Clearly all that semblance training she had done on Patch was worth it.

"Right. So, do we fight these Beowolves and find the Nevermore?" she asked, gesturing over her shoulder to the pack that was forming.

"Yep!" Ruby enthusiastically added while drawing Crescent Rose.

Weiss smiled as she drew Myrtenaster. It had been a few weeks since she last fought any Grimm. This would be a good warm up for her.

In a flash of white her Rapier rose as she immediately charged into a Beowolf, piercing its skull in a single thrust, and following with another slash that killed its brother. Another group of four approached her, intent on overwhelming her through sheer numbers, yet she saw them coming and launched a blitz of thrusts toward them, skewering all four in less than a second.

She turned to see Ruby smiling at her, already done with her share.

"How's _that_ for fast?" Ruby asked. She smiled and raised her hands.

"Not bad. Looks like all your training paid off." she replied. It better have if they were going to stand a chance against Cinder this time. Her grip around Myrtenaster tightened.

"Let's go find that Nevermore."

"Huh… never thought _you'd_ be telling me that." Ruby replied.

/-/

Awkward was the right word to describe the dynamic between them. Pyrrha had thought that his cluelessness in regard to her fame was a good reason. She hadn't seen any better candidates after all. Unfortunately for her, that thought had gone out the window as soon as she made eye contact with him.

He had not uttered a single word in the five minutes since their meeting, the only exception being his name. He had instead chosen to communicate in short grunts, nods and gestures. And it frustrated her to no end. Was _this_ going to be her partner for the next four years?

"So… Jaune. How are you liking Beacon so far?" she asked, hoping to break the ice for the final time.

Her face fell when he simply gestured a 'so-so', with his hands without even turning around to look at her. Great camaraderie.

As they approached what looked to be a mountain, Pyrrha saw a hole leading into the mountainside and decided to approach it. She was surprised at hearing his voice from behind.

"I _really_ don't think the temple's in there." she heard him speak, breaking his streak of wordlessness.

"Oh, you finally spoke…" she attempted to joke. It died the moment she met his completely bored gaze. "Uhm… it was a joke, you know, about how you weren't speaking and…"

Okay, this was awkward.

She needed something, anything to escape this hopeless situation. The answer appeared in the form of the cave ahead of them. She normally wouldn't consider entering such a place, and her approach had been only to examine it. But something made her enter, if only so that she could forget this painfully cold interaction.

She heard a long sigh leave his mouth as she entered the cave, hearing him enter a few paces behind her. She continued moving forward until she saw what appeared to be a glowing light, and the feeling of something sticky beneath her feet.

She immediately knew something was wrong and began to dash out of the cave as the glowing light began flailing around wildly after her with a roar.

Was he outside already?

She rolled out of the way of the pincer headed for her and got to her feet beside him.

"Nice job on finding the temple." she heard him jab. He made a joke, that was progress. She smiled and stood her ground, shield raised as she stood beside him. No doubt he too was preparing for battle in a stance.

She turned to look at him. Her face twitched in a way she didn't think possible.

He had his hands in his pockets and stood lazily, looking toward the sky or trees every other moment.

"Um… Jaune? We're in the middle of a fight, maybe you want to get ready?" she asked, bewilderment in her tone.

"Oh…" he drawled. "Right." Just what was this man?

Before she could reflect on it any further the Deathstalker barrelled toward them, specifically toward him. Normally she would evade, or brace her shield for impact, but he was too far for her to get to in time.

Taking a deep breath, she jumped.

/-/

He nearly leapt into action at seeing her get knocked into the sky by the massive pincer. But he couldn't. He needed her out of the fight after all, although having to make it happen stabbed at his conscience rather hard. Yet, he knew she would be fine due to her Aura.

It had been a calculated move. The exact spot where she could attempt a leap that would leave her exposed, yet too far for any of her usual defensive moves. The luxury of time and repeated practice allowed him to pull off insane tricks like that regularly nowadays.

He still had one more problem to take care of before he could deal with the oversized Grimm however.

He angled himself just right, anticipating the exact force and velocity of its pincer heading for him. He raised his shield just enough, yet angled it ever so oddly, making it look as though he had tried to block.

He smiled as he was knocked through the air, straight into Ozpin's camera. The crunch of metal and glass against his back signalling its destruction.

Physical pain had become an abstract concept for him over the years. His physical body felt it, and he was certain his brain received the signal as well, yet he simply didn't care about it.

He rose to his feet immediately as the Deathstalker attempted to shoot its tail out at him. Utterly predictable, as with all Grimm. No matter how big or tough they were, even the Dragon Grimm was a nuisance to him. Albeit a nuisance that took ages to kill.

He sidestepped the stinger by millimeters as the wind force it produced caused his hair to ruffle. With a yawn he took two long steps straight into the reach of its pincers and placed a hand on top of its head.

Aura manipulation was a blessing against the Grimm. Even the toughest of them could be killed with a pulse of Aura sent into their weak points, although some took more than others. The repeat in which he saw Ren kill a King Taijitu using it had been more than enough to convince him to begin learning it.

Unlike Hunters and his enemies, Grimm had no Aura, and hence had no defense against the technique. Thus the skill had quickly become one of his most commonly abused tricks against the mindless beasts. The fact that he carried the knowledge and mastery of it over each repeat was just an added bonus.

He flared his Aura into his palm, sending the finishing pulse into the Deathstalker's bone plated head while casually ducking as a flailing pincer attempted to knock his head off and began to walk off to where Pyrrha was.

A few moments later a shriek sounded out across the forest followed by a sickening, splatter-like explosion.

/-/

She cut her way past the thick underbrush while mentally berating herself for allowing such a thing to happen. She had been knocked out of the fight and left her partner to face off against the Deathstalker alone. A small part of her felt betrayed. Why would he just stand there like that? His unpreparedness caused this to happen.

She shook her head free of the thoughts as she neared the location of the fight, just in time to see Jaune waving at her, the same old expression on his face.

"Jaune! Are you okay?" she called out as her pace quickened. Although from the look on his face she surmised that there were no physical injuries.

"I'm fine." he replied curtly. Was he always like this?

"The Deathstalker, what happened?" she inquired, curious to know how exactly he had managed to get rid of that thing.

"It ran off."

"Uhm… could you repeat that?" she asked. It must have been the wind.

"It. Ran. Off." he mouthed slowly, making her sound like an idiot.

"How did… uhm… never mind." she stopped as soon as she saw the most emotionless look on his face. How could somebody be _that_ apathetic to everything?

"Are we headed for the temple or what?" he asked, cutting her thoughts off. Right, she needed to secure a relic first, and ask questions later.

"Lead the way." she replied.

"I was following you." Was he? She honestly got the feeling that it was she following him the entire time. A strange and stupid notion that she couldn't logically justify, yet it was present.

"Right, let's go then."

* * *

He lazily strolled behind Pyrrha as the two of them arrived at the temple. It was as dull and grey as he remembered. An insignificant place he never saw past Initiation. He began to contemplate just how lonely the place must have been throughout the rest of the year, when there weren't any students or teachers watching over or visiting it.

An important realization struck him at that moment.

When the hell had he started reflecting on things so much?

Save for his nightmare, he usually didn't bother to reflect on things that much. Yet this repeat had been strange. He thought on things _all_ the time. Perhaps it was the cloud cult's invasion.

Yes, that was it. All problems could be blamed on these dirty cloud loving scum.

He walked over to the relics to see Blake and Yang already present and the expected white knight piece in Yang's hand. He picked up his own white rook piece while musing to himself that the pieces were in fact golden, and not white. Why Ozpin insisted they were was beyond him.

As he did, he heard the familiar sound of Ruby falling to the ground. A part of him felt a prick of guilt at letting her keep falling, realizing that he was the one who broke her fall last time. Yet he also knew that the fall wouldn't do much to her Aura, and Yang would save her.

Except she didn't.

He stared at Yang who had the saddest, most confused expression on her face, clearly unable to decide on what to do. Saving her sister wasn't a hard choice, what had gotten into her head anyway? He could have sworn the blonde gave him a quick expectant glance.

He slightly cringed as Ruby fell flat onto her rear, the ground shaking as she did. Ouch, he was sure that one took a lot out of her Aura.

"Yang! Blake! Why didn't you save me?!" he saw Ruby pout. Expecting her sister to save her was natural. Expecting Blake to save her? Either Ruby uttered the word mistakenly, or she and Blake had somehow grown close enough for whining.

He stared curiously at Ruby as Weiss came down shortly after. The girl's face twisted in an awkward way, unsure of what to do. Strange, the Ruby he knew would never hesitate when it came to saving her partner. In the repeats where he had partnered with her, she had never hesitated to do the same for him.

He looked to Pyrrha to see her readying her shield, about to do something.

It was unnecessary.

He had expected as much. Weiss was somehow far more skilled in this repeat, and seeing her use her glyphs to slow her own descent came as no surprise to him.

As he watched her land he thought he saw the slightest hint of panic on her face.

One odd reaction might have been a coincidence, but this many together? No way. He decided to approach them for the first time, perhaps he could get some answers about what was going on.

"That was a pretty smooth landing. Where'd you learn that?" He raised an eyebrow as she simply turned away before he could get a look at her face. Weiss wasn't normally _that_ rude.

"None of your business." That one was unexpected. What was the matter with her? Was it the brainwashing?

Without another word he watched as she calmly grabbed a golden knight off its pedestal, considering the entire time why she seemed so relieved when she had done it.

Just as he was about to contemplate why, a crazed Ursa charged into the clearing. A crazed beast mounted by an even crazier girl. He watched with a bored, but guarded expression as Nora got off the Ursa.

That girl was dangerous.

His bored expression nearly broke when Nora's gaze turned to him.

"Ren look! It's Jaune! Hi Jaune! Which piece did you take?!" she exclaimed across the clearing. He would ask himself how she knew about that specific team formation bit, but he had long given up on trying to come up with an explanation for the Nora.

With a resigned look, he raised his hand to show the golden rook to her, nearly cringing in horror when her face lit up with a devilish smile. He watched her prance over to the golden rook, uttering her usual words about being 'queen of the castle'.

He looked over his shoulder to Pyrrha who simply shrugged at the turn of events.

His team was weird.

The flapping of wings cut his thoughts off. He looked to the sky to see the familiar Nevermore charging towards them, evidently fed up of their nonsense and at being ignored. Or at least that was what Jaune told himself. Ascribing human qualities and problems to Grimm was something he had learned from Nora. An outlet for him.

"A Nevermore, and it's headed straight for us." Ren announced, keeping calm as usual while assessing the situation.

"Great. Let's shoot it." he added.

"Shoot it?" Pyrrha asked.

"Why not? We've got five guns and a grenade launcher here right?" he countered. Pyrrha saw his point a moment later as she immediately drew Milo and took aim at the Nevermore, opening fire.

"I told you he's a time traveler Ren! He knows what Magnhild can do." He really needed to watch his mouth around the hyperactive girl.

A moment later they were all opening fire on the Grimm. Ruby, Yang, Blake, Pyrrha, Ren and Nora. A veritable hail of bullets and explosions rocking the airborne beast. As more and more shots began to pelt it, alongside more explosions, it began slowing down, its wings appearing to tire. With a shot from Crescent Rose the massive Grimm fell to the ground.

Jaune stood in place as the rest of them rushed over to where it had landed, intent on finishing the job, only to find it had already been done.

"It's… dead?" Pyrrha asked.

"We _did_ have five guns and a grenade launcher hitting it at the same time." he answered. Honestly, what had they expected? With no Deathstalker to draw their attention the combined firepower they possessed was more than enough to always kill the Nevermore. Although it had gone much faster than it normally had in past lives.

One of the key benefits of his semblance was that each time he died, mental attributes such as intelligence, muscle memory and reflexes carried over with him. He would have given up long ago without it.

It was the same benefit which allowed him to keep track of each shot in near slow motion. He had seen Crescent Rose hit the Nevermore's head multiple times in a row, speeding along its demise. Well, now was as good a time as any to prod at her.

"Nice shooting. Where'd you learn to use that sniper rifle?" he asked.

/-/

'Don't make eye contact. Don't make eye contact. Don't make eye contact.' she kept telling herself as she stayed facing away from Jaune. Why did she need to keep up this lie? They had already formed teams and the reason for keeping it a secret was over.

A sideways glance from Blake urged her to keep it shut however.

"Uh… thanks. I learned from my uncle." she said while refusing to turn around whatsoever.

Beside her, Yang cast a nervous glance, unsure of what to do next, and she could see that the look on Weiss's face was no better.

"Well, I believe we're done here. We should head back to the cliffs now." Pyrrha said, saving them from the corner they were backed into.

Her team awkwardly followed her lead as she feigned a stumble and began to walk behind Jaune and his team, intent on not allowing him to get a look at them. This was going to be an awkward walk back to the cliffs.

After a few minutes of silence she caught sight of Nora looking back at them, her gaze flitting between them and Jaune, over and over, a contemplative look in her eyes.

"So…" Nora drawled. "Why are the four of you awkwardly avoiding Jaune?" she nearly choked at hearing the words. Did Nora have a hidden second semblance for this sort of thing?

Her and her team's reactions didn't help matters, all silent, further fuelling the girl's conspiracy theory.

"Oh! I know! Is he your ex or something?" she nearly turned red in embarrassment at hearing that. Yang had told her what an ex was once, and despite what stupid Yang and her Dad implied, it wasn't like that between her and Jaune.

"No wait… I think I know!" Nora had reached a solid conclusion no doubt. "Are you… part of his harem?!"

She heard the rest of her team choke on empty air at hearing that. What was a harem anyways? If the line Nora was taking was any indication, it was nothing good. Probably some kind of romantic relationship.

Good thing Jaune wasn't close enough to overhear their conversation, instead he was placed farther ahead alongside Pyrrha. Although from the looks of it, the interaction between the two was as non-existent as Nora's sanity.

"Nora… I don't think they appreciate comments like that." Ren interjected, saving them from the wrath of the Valkyrie. Bless him.

"Oh… sorry!" she added quickening her pace to meet up with her team. As she left she muttered to Ren. "I don't think they're over him yet."

* * *

"Led by... Ruby Rose!" Ozpin had exclaimed as he congratulated the team and its leader.

"It looks like things are shaping up to be an… interesting year." He had said to himself as he walked off the stage back to his office.

This year's Initiation had certainly been something he examined curiously.

The candidates he had initially considered interesting were certainly still so in his mind. But he had taken sight of a new interest. One that had appeared 'average' to him at first.

The interest being the reason why he had chosen to call the boy up to his office. He stared curiously as the young man simply walked up and took a seat without asking. He could not find a better word to describe the expression except; bored.

"Jaune Arc. Newly elected leader of team JNPR. I trust the day has been treating you well?" he asked, attempting to start a conversation with the boy, who, despite being in the presence of himself, showed no change in expression whatsoever. Interesting.

He raised an eyebrow when Jaune simply shrugged in response.

"Not one for idle conversation are you?" he asked. He might as well get to the point. "Mr. Arc, do you remember what transpired during Initiation?"

"We picked up some golden chess pieces you insist on calling white?" He nearly allowed a smirk at the words.

"Chess technicalities aside, that wasn't the answer I was hoping to receive." he quickly clarified, not allowing the discussion to be derailed any further. "Mr. Arc, do you recall coming across a cave alongside your partner Miss Nikos?"

"Oh right." the boy answered. "I told her we wouldn't find the temple in there, but she decided to go in anyway." Interesting, was he dodging the question?

"I would have assumed the giant Deathstalker would be the first thing to enter your recollection, yet it seems I was wrong."

"Eh, don't sweat it, we all make mistakes." Jaune's tone made him reconsider his initial analysis. Jaune Arc was _not_ just another applicant. Speaking to the Headmaster of Beacon Academy so informally was something most students would dare not think. Yet the young man seemed to carry on doing it, with no signs of stopping.

"Of course." he replied. "But, I did not call you here to hear your articulate words of wisdom Mr. Arc."

"My charming personality then? I've heard tell that I'm great at parties. You aren't inviting me to one of your social events are you?" Ozpin allowed himself to smile at that one. It wasn't often that he met a confident young man like Jaune Arc.

"A tempting proposition. Unfortunately, there are no social events in the immediate future." he returned, allowing himself to enter the banter for a mere moment. "But, allow me to 'cut to the chase' as they say. Mr. Arc, what happened to the Deathstalker that came out of the cave and attacked you and Miss Nikos?"

"It ran off." His glasses nearly fell onto his nose at the response.

"Mr. Arc, while I appreciate a sense of humour and joviality, Grimm do not simply run off." The young man was hiding something, and he was interested in finding out what.

"What do you want me to say? That it exploded at a single touch from me?"

"No, I suppose you are right." He had to concede. Expecting a first-year applicant to best a Deathstalker was a little too far fetched for his mind. "Very well Mr. Arc, if that is all you have to add, then you are free to leave."

"Yep, see you around Ozpin."

A smile crept onto his face as Mr. Arc left his office. He had received no answers and knew that the young man was hiding something, but he didn't know what. He still had questions for him. Why he ran from home, how he trained, and his attitude. But he could leave those for later. For now, he was content to keep him under his watchful eye in his school.

What an interesting young man.

/-/

He walked down an empty hallway, wondering what had gotten into him. He would normally have feigned confusion, panic and some respect for authority. Yet when he spoke to Ozpin he had none of that, instead speaking as himself. Why had he done it? The answer was simple. He didn't care anymore.

He was certain he had drawn the man's attention now. After all, it wasn't every day that Ozpin came across people like him. Yet, he found himself uncaring about the situation he was in. Perhaps due to the fact that whether or not he drew Ozpin's attention, he would still inevitably die.

He shook the depressing thought from his head, wallowing in negativity was something he had tried to avoid ever since coming out his depression. He had more important things to focus on. The most immediate of which was investigating the cloud cult's motives and identities.

Who were they?

His thoughts were cut off as he hears the patter of four familiar pairs of feet from behind him. What was team RWBY doing here of all places?

He was about to glance over his shoulder to have a look, except his instincts screamed out at him. He sharply turned just in time to see the four of them about to tackle him.

He had no room to dodge. They had smartly negated his speed advantage, almost as though they knew how to take him down.

To him they moved very slowly, he saw them coming easily. Yet he could do nothing as they approached, no room to move, and while he might have trained his speed, he wasn't nearly fast enough to strike the four of them down before they could reach him.

He grunted as he felt the four of them brutally tackle him down to the floor. There was still hope, he could still strike at them to get free. He attempted to raise his hands to do just that, except they had hands latched onto them, in an iron tight grip, refusing to let go.

Ruby tightly latched onto his left arm while Weiss locked onto his left. He attempted to wiggle his legs free, but to no avail as Blake and Yang had a firm hold on them, and he wasn't strong enough to contest their full body strength on each limb.

He attempted to struggle further as he was dragged into the empty classroom behind Port's class.

As they furiously attempted to open the door his mind finally kicked in ushering his thoughts inside. What the hell on Remnant was going on?!

It didn't take him long to come to a solid conclusion, one he had been suspecting all along.

The cloud cult had brainwashed them all! They were going to use him as a human sacrifice weren't they?! His mind raced with thoughts as he was dragged inside.

/-/

Okay, things were mostly going to plan. If abducting a student in the hallways and forcing him into a room typically used by the older students could be called a plan. It was a room used for quick sexual escapades, mostly by the third and fourth year students, particularly due to the fact that it had no cameras. Although Blake doubted the Headmaster would do anything about it even if he knew.

As she and Yang opened the door she cringed.

Two partially undressed students were going at it, hard. She turned around quickly, trying to shield Ruby, but was relieved to see Weiss had already done the job, placing a hand over her leader's eyes.

"You didn't tell me they used the room for _this_!" Weiss exclaimed.

"I wasn't expecting anyone in here on the _first_ day!" she countered, suddenly shifting her gaze to the pair of excited idiots going at it. With a lethal glare, she quietly spoke. "Out."

They smartly complied and hastily headed out. Although Blake was certain the girl had given her a wink as she left. She inwardly groaned at the implications of that, trying not to let the thought get to her head as they securely tied Jaune to a chair in case he tried to escape _. Not_ because they were about to do anything!

She looked to Jaune, no doubt he was panicking at the abrupt change of events. His gaze bored straight into her soul and sent shivers down her spine. Although behind his eyes she could also see traces of fear and panic. She was right, this was just as harrowing for him as it was for them.

Uncertain of what to say she was about to speak, only for her leader Ruby to cut in.

"Now I know what you're thinking…"

/-/

"No, you don't." he interrupted, shutting the poor girl up. "You abducted and dragged me into a room typically used for private activities, and have me tied to a chair. So, I'm pretty sure you aren't thinking what I'm thinking. Or what your teammates are thinking." he said, ignoring the awkward stammer coming from Weiss, or the blush on Blake's face.

"Wait! This isn't that!" Blake quickly defended.

"Then what else is it? If you aren't about to steal my virtue, what exactly are you doing? Demonic sacrifice? Insane cult rituals?" Subtlety had gone out the window. This was unexpected enough for that. He couldn't waste time bandying words.

As Jaune spoke he began to untie the ropes binding him. Blake was good, probably one of the best at it, but she wasn't nearly good enough to hold him.

The others were noticeably silent, having apparently decided to let Blake do the talking.

"Jaune wait… just hear us out." he heard her say. Fat chance of that happening now that they had kidnapped him and tied him to a chair. No. He was frustrated, and it was beginning to spill. He always had things under control. Events _never_ caught up to him this early at Beacon.

"Who sent you?!" he asked in a low tone, barely concealing the frustration welling up within him.

Control had all but left him. Was this one of Emerald's illusions? But that was impossible, she never came to Beacon this early. What the fuck was going on?

The answer came out of nowhere. Her words caused his mind to enter a state of shutdown as they left her lips.

"Jaune, we came back with you."

/-/

She was scared and uncertain of what to say or do, which was frustrating since she could see that his mind had officially shut down completely. Even worse than her Dad when her Mom had left.

This was bad. She hadn't expected him to take the revelation _this_ horribly. She looked to his eyes to see a strange mixture and flurry of conflicting emotions. Shock, fear, panic, yet beneath was a weird undertone of joy. His eyes constantly widened and narrowed, unsure of where to settle exactly as he looked at nobody in particular.

Ruby didn't like seeing him like this. When they had planned on breaking it to him, she had expected that Jaune would have all the answers, that _he_ would be the one guiding them. But to see him at such a loss for words? It hurt. It hurt her to se him like this, and she had to do something about it.

She suddenly noticed the life coming back to his eyes. He was about to escape his bindings! She saw Yang about to stop him, but she reacted before her sister could get there. Her hands reaching him before his own could move any further., pulling him into a hug.

She smiled as she felt his heartbeat calm noticeably.

She felt his hands on her shoulders, slowly pushing her away. His head rose as he finally looked to her eyes and then to the others.

Jaune was back.

/-/

He didn't think it possible to have such a terrifying meltdown inside his own head. Yet, it had happened. Three thousand years of this madness, and a single revelation could do that to him? Well, to be fair, it was the combination of many things. His frustration, his attempts to stay away from them, and his hidden joy at hearing that they had come back with him, an emotion he attempted to brutally squash down. He had never had such a mixture of contradictory emotions enter his mind before.

He still refused to believe this madness, a small part of him wondering whether it truly was one of Emerald's illusions or not. Yet that small part surrendered when he recalled the feeling of Ruby hugging him. He knew what that felt like, and Emerald could never come close to imitating that.

His head was now racing with possible plans, contingencies and steps for the immediate future. No matter what he came up with however, one thing simply had to be done.

"I'm not sure whether this is real or one of Nora's dreams but… let's talk."

The flame had been relit.

* * *

 **A/N: Sincere apologies for the delayed chapter. It was supposed to be out a day earlier, but due to reasons explained below it wasn't.**

 **Rant (You don't have to read this): This chapter would likely have come out a full three days earlier if I hadn't suffered a bad case of writer's block. Once that subsided I decided to take a shot at it, finally outlining all the filler and scenes. Except when it came to actually writing the scenes, I was immensely dissatisfied and went through multiple rewrites. I then finally discovered that this was a seriously long chapter, and hence needed more time to write it.**

 **Anyways, apologies, for the delay and for the rant.**

 **Minor Microscopic Retcon: A news reporter in the first two chapters was named John. It has been changed to Cyril to properly stay attuned with canon.**

 **Next chapter: July 12th.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4 - Beacon Days**

* * *

"Prove it," He knew they weren't lying, and in fact, there was no possibility of Emerald knowing anything of what they had just told him. Yet, a small, stubborn part of his mind still needed some further certainty.

"Oh I don't know, would recounting the food fight, docks, and a dozen other events make you feel better?" Weiss sarcastically asked.

"For all I know this could still be one of Emerald's illusions, going to need some more proof than that," He knew it wasn't, though that wasn't why he had asked.

"Fine, then how about something Emerald would never know?" Weiss asked as her hand went to her bangs, brushing them aside for a moment giving a clearer view of her scar, or where it should have been. "Believe me now?"

He released a shaky breath at the revelation, even though it came as no surprise to him. Her running away from Jacques meant she never had the chance to get it. His eyes went up towards Weiss just in time to see a slap winding up. He simply smiled as he let it contact his cheek.

"You dunce! Why did you never tell us?! Explain yourself immediately!" Weiss barked.

"Did you believe me when I told you on top of the tower?"

His words had their intended effect when Weiss's eyes faltered. She knew he was right.

"That was because you told us out of nowhere. Would you believe anyone claiming time travel out of the blue either?" Blake asked him. "We would have believed you if you took the time to explain everything earlier; if you gave us proof."

"Never happened," he instantly replied in a cold tone causing Blake to slightly flinch. "You think I haven't tried that? Best case scenario you all laugh at me, maybe some veiled concern for my sanity. Most times I end up getting arrested or expelled when you tell Ozpin," There were even worse things that could happen from him trying to tell them, but he decided to leave those details out, it would only dishearten them. "So I'll ask again, did any of you believe me when I told you?"

"I did."

His grimace weakened. He knew she had believed him, yet he had desperately tried to forget the memory upon waking up.

"I know that, I didn't mean you Ruby." He replied, unable to meet her gaze. Was this real? Had she really come back?

"Jaune, what's wrong? This is supposed to be good news, right?" Yang asked, her eyes intently studying his reactions.

This wasn't the time to brood and lower their hopes. He wasn't sure how it had happened, but it did. They were back with him.

"Nothing's wrong. I'm just a little overwhelmed," he lied.

"Yeah! Don't you worry Jaune, we're with you this time!" Ruby cheerfully exclaimed with a smile on her face. It didn't make his problem any better.

They were with him this time. The thought hit him with the crushing burden of responsibility. They were depending on him, a dangerous line of thinking, one that had never failed to get them killed. Could he honestly believe that he would lead them to prevail this time? He had no reason to believe it; he hadn't won in three thousand attempts. He couldn't believe in his chances, but it wouldn't stop him from trying.

His eyes burned with a determination he had thought lost, one he felt only on his first loop.

"Alright, here's the plan."

/-/

"So we're supposed to bide our time in Beacon while you hit White Fang operations across Vale?" Blake asked him, unsure of the plan's soundness.

"Did I stutter?" She rolled her eyes at his words. "You four are too important to waste on this. I can't risk revealing you before the Tournament," She wanted to trust what he said, yet a small part of her had doubts.

"Are we to assume that you'll be taking out multiple White Fang operations alone?" Weiss asked. "Aren't you getting ahead of yourself?" The heiress voiced Blake's concerns for her. Jaune was acting reckless in thinking he could handle it all himself.

"Best fighter on Remnant remember?" He replied with a cocky smirk which made her want to slap it off, although he wasn't exactly wrong.

"And what if you fail?" Blake asked, it was too much to bet on one man.

"I won't."

"You expect us to just believe that?"

"I don't, but you'll have to believe it anyway," he replied producing an irritated twitch of the brow from her. "Look, the White Fang aren't a problem, not yet anyhow. It's just a few out-of-the way warehouses which end up being far more important during the Tournament than the Fang themselves know."

"It's not like Adam's leaving these warehouses unguarded Jaune," she brought up.

"Leave that to me. It's only a few token guards and lookouts anyways, like I said, even they don't know how important these warehouses end up being."

"If you say so," she muttered. "How long have you been doing this for?" She suspected it was for a while, yet knowing a number would help answer a few questions.

"Only a few dozen loops." he replied. Not exactly the answer she had been expecting.

"You learned advanced martial arts, criminal skills and a dozen other tricks in a few dozen loops?" Yang questioned. Blake had her doubts as well; mastering that many things in a few dozen loops seemed unlikely.

"What can I say? I'm a fast learner," the reply came accompanied by the telltale smirk which annoyed her. "But more importantly, there's something I have to know."

" _You_ don't know something? This should be good." Weiss replied.

"Why are you all following a bunch of cloud worshipping cultists?"

* * *

"I'm telling you, he's with his harem," Nora loudly yammered into his ear, something which likely would have lead to permanent deafening in normal people.

"I don't think Jaune or team RWBY will appreciate that kind of talk Nora," he replied, attempting to simmer down the Valkyrie, an exercise in futility. Getting Dust to work in space would have better results.

"Eh, Jaune doesn't care," Nora announced, displaying an astonishing amount of familiarity with someone she had known for the entirety of a day.

The sound of a loud crash broke their chain of banter as it reverberated through the hallway.

"They're getting feisty, I think we should step in to save him now," Nora babbled, causing him to raise an eyebrow but reluctantly agree. Nora had a strange tendency of always being right.

"Surely this harem business can't be true?" Pyrrha asked, eyeing Nora with a level of uncertainty.

"If Nora says it, it has to be true," he explained to her. She would grow used to Nora's scary ability in time.

"I don't mean to be rude, but this is just-"

Ren sighed as they reached the door and peered through the glass. The activities going on inside had caused Pyrrha's sudden loss for words.

"See? I told you!" Nora exclaimed.

Ren opened the door and stepped inside the scene of Jaune on the ground, surrounded by broken wood, rope, and having three weapons pointed at him. Blake pointed a sword at him, but strangely had her face coloured a deep shade of red, Yang had his collar in her hand and looked as though she was about to murder him, while Weiss pointed a Rapier at him while looking equally livid. The only one left out was their team leader, standing off to the side with an expression on her face torn between running away and intervening.

With a hand raised, he cleared his throat and spoke. "While I certainly won't judge, Nora and I would appreciate it if you let our leader go."

His words and sudden arrival seemed to have their effect as they immediately shot back and gave his leader some much needed room to get to his feet. He stepped forward and gave Jaune a helping hand, raising an eyebrow at the tired expression he had on his face.

"How was it? Were they too rough on you fearless leader?" Nora asked Jaune as he got to his feet, dusting off the various splinters of wood on his clothes.

"The foreplay could use some work." he replied, causing Yang's previously livid expression to turn soft and break out into a fit of giggles a second after.

"Ugh… this isn't what you think it is." Blake added, attempting to clear her name.

"Well what is it then? I don't see any other reason for tying Jaune up," Nora muttered, however, a moment after, her eyes lit up with a devious shine. "Unless you're all time travelers having a meeting!"

Nora's bizarre theory caused Blake to choke for a moment, most likely due to how ridiculous it sounded Ren thought. Time travel, it was among the crazier things his partner had thought up.

His eyes went to Pyrrha who had stepped forward and glanced over team RWBY curiously. "I don't suppose any of you would care to explain why my partner was on the ground with ropes lying next to him?" she asked a good question. The real motives behind this scene had yet to be revealed.

"I-it's-"

"Advanced Atlesian captivity, interrogation and survival training. The ropes are an integral part of it." he heard Weiss confidently recite. Interesting, although the question of why his leader had chosen to train in such a niche skill on the first day with another team still remained.

"Is that a euphemism for bondage?" Nora asked, causing Blake and Weiss to choke up while Yang burst into a greater fit of laughter. To the side, Ruby looked as confused as ever while Pyrrha awkwardly coughed into her hand, attempting to hide a blush.

Ren shook his head at his partner's antics as he ushered his leader and teammates out of the room, leaving a sputtering and giggling team RWBY behind.

Their side of the story would have to come later; they had just formed teams and needed to set up their rooms.

The way back provided ample time to ask his leader however.

* * *

He was an idiot. That was the only way he saw fit to describe himself. All the loops, deaths and experiences he had gone through had somehow failed to instill basic common sense into his head. To this moment he was still mentally shaking his head at his inability to see that the cloud cultists were in fact different members of RWBY.

He exhaled a breath of relief at the memory of his team coming to his rescue, just as those three were about to give him the beating of a dozen lives.

"If you don't mind me asking, what were you up to in there?" Pyrrha asked.

"Advanced Atlesian captivity, interrogation and survival training," he parroted off from memory. He failed to see why Nora thought it was a euphemism for bondage, after all, it was an actual training course in the Atlesian military.

"Right," Pyrrha awkwardly laughed. "Well, on the bright side, you're opening up a lot more than you did during Initiation. I wonder why that is?" He inwardly sighed at her veiled demand for an answer. This wouldn't normally be so hard, yet the revelation of RWBY coming back with him had thrown everything into disarray. Having a consistent character each loop was what made coming up with excuses and explanations easier, yet now he needed to reverse the damage he had already done, if only to keep their suspicions away from him.

"The nerves got to me during Initiation." he replied, a simple explanation that was easy to buy.

"That's interesting, I wasn't aware that a case of the nerves could lead to an awkward silence and communication through only grunts and hand signs," Pyrrha jabbed at him. It was clear to him that she didn't buy it.

"It was a _very_ intense case of the nerves," he maintained.

"Am I to believe that this 'very' intense case of the nerves also lead to you standing around, doing nothing while a Deathstalker attacked you?" Pyrrha further probed. Why couldn't she just leave it?

"I guess I just froze up?"

"Is that a question or a statement?" Ren added, picking apart his already tenuous defense.

"I don't know, take your pick." he replied, attempting to steer them off the course they were on.

He saw Ren raise an eyebrow at that reply, but couldn't find it in himself to care. Staying away from them was as much as for his own sake as it was for theirs.

"Can you two leave Jaune alone already? He's having a hard enough time managing a harem." Nora neglected to mention that it was a psychotic harem that was about to kill him a few moments earlier, but that detail wasn't too important.

"Of course, we only just formed this team. I'm sure he'll tell us what that scene was about sooner or later." Ren replied, seemingly having backed off.

More like never. He didn't plan on telling his own team if he could help it. It would only bring more trouble his way. He idly waited as his scroll sent the signal for his dorm room to open and as soon as it did Nora sprinted inside and threw herself onto her bed.

"How do you like the room fearless leader?" Nora asked.

"The walls could use some colour, maybe pink?" he replied, secretly hoping Nora took the bait.

Her eyes widened at him. "That's the best idea ever! We're going to paint the walls pink, right Ren?" The stoic boy could only sigh as he cast a sideways glare at Jaune who simply smirked.

"He knows what my favourite colour is Ren! I told you he's a time traveler!" He nearly tripped on his own feet at her sharp deduction.

"I think your choice of clothing might have had something to do with it Nora." Ren replied, saving him from the deadly premonitions of the Valkyrie.

She looked down at what she was wearing and lit up with a grin as she began perusing through her scroll for paint supplies.

"So, Pyrrha tells me you encountered a Deathstalker during Initiation?" Ren asked him. Great, he knew it would come up sooner or later.

"I believe I already told Pyrrha it ran off. Unless you want me to repeat it in slow motion, there really isn't anything more to add." Something told him Ren didn't need a slower recital of the line.

"Grimm don't exactly run off Jaune," Pyrrha responded.

"That's what Ozpin told me too, and unless you're going to claim that I killed it all by myself, I believe this discussion is over," he curtly replied, a slight stab of guilt shooting through him at having to treat his own team so coldly. It was for their own good, even if they never accepted that.

Awkward silence reigned for a few moments until Nora chimed in with her own thoughts.

"Unless you killed it in a single attack, right Jaune?" Nora cut in. An assertion that was ridiculous to the others, yet horrifyingly accurate.

"Yep, of course I killed it in a single attack. I'm simply hiding my true power in preparation for the day I take over Beacon and force everyone to join my harem," he quipped, betraying a partial truth.

"Hey! I already have my own harem, it consists of Magnhild and Ren. In that order." Jaune smirked as he saw Ren's hand come across his face. Being told you were second to a hammer was quite the blow to the pride, although he suspected that wasn't the reason Ren facepalmed.

To the side he could see Pyrrha smiling at their antics, already having forgotten his cold shutdown. Keeping them away from him was harder than he thought. He needed a distraction.

"So, where are you all from anyway?" he asked them, hoping to lead the discussion anywhere but his confrontation with the Deathstalker.

"Me and Ren-"

"Ren and I," the boy corrected.

"It's okay Nora, he's just jealous that his name comes second," he encouraged, earning another annoyed sideways glare from Ren, although one accompanied by a slight smirk. Great, he was getting them to warm up to him, exactly what he didn't want.

Nora pouted at Ren as she continued. "Me and Ren travel a lot." The answer was a little too short for his liking and Ren had probed into his affairs one too many times today. The time was ripe for a little payback.

"You two travel together? So you're together-together?" Bullseye. His question caused an awkward glance from Ren and a blush from Nora. It was the best way of shutting down Ren's annoying observation skills, and the only true counter to the dangerous reality defying powers of Nora.

"W-what?! No, that's just weird! We're not, together-together," she awkwardly stammered as Ren cast a glance to the side but looked as though he wanted to leave the discussion faster than a Dust train.

"But didn't you just say he's part of your harem?" he pressed.

"I- but it isn't-" Nora seemed at a loss for words as Jaune had caught her between a rock and dangerous territory. "Pyrrha! Jaune's being mean to me!" He sighed as his partner came between the two of them.

"Did you just pull the Pyrrha card on me? Real mature Nora," he drawled as the girl hid herself behind Ren who was faring no better.

"I suppose it really was an intense case of the nerves, wasn't it?" Pyrrha asked him. What did she mean by that?

"Care to elaborate?"

"Well, you said that the nerves getting to you was what made you unable to talk right?"

"And?"

"I didn't believe you at first. I thought you weren't a good match for the team and that the rest of the years would go by like it had during Initiation."

"I think you need to work on your basic reasoning," he retorted, a last attempt to save the situation he just realized he had fallen into. He had nobody to blame for this besides himself.

"I agree, it was foolish of me to think you weren't a good fit for our team. But, I'm happy you proved me wrong," she stated as she went toward her bed. "Good night 'fearless leader'."

His hand tightened into a fist as he silently went to bed amidst Nora's constant bickering at Ren. It was almost too easy to fall into the casual family-like banter again, so much so, that he hadn't even realized it until Pyrrha brought it to his attention.

It was a simple spark, yet one that would make things difficult moving forward. Leaving them out was going to be even harder for him now.

Jaune lamented the fact as his head hit the pillow.

He was leader of team JNPR again.

* * *

 _A painful heel dug into her leg, causing her knee to snap backwards. She would scream, but rage had overtaken her, instead driven by an animalistic instinct as she furiously drove towards Cinder, sending another flurry of blows at the monster._

 _Her arms were numb and refused to obey her commands, causing her punches to become sloppier. Cinder laughed as she spun around and caught her on the jaw with a vicious roundhouse kick that briefly sent her vision into the black._

 _When she opened her eyes she saw her worst nightmare. Ruby was on the ground, battered and broken as Cinder approached her._

 _She screamed as the monster stood above her sister, yet was unable to do anything.  
_

 _As Cinder was about to strike the final blow, Yang heard another roar from behind._

 _/-/_

Yang's eyelids were heavy as the alarm on her scroll rang into her ear. She felt the urge to slam it onto the floor, yet did not, as the habits she drilled into herself over the past year came into force. The others were still fast asleep, none of them having set an alarm this early in the first day. But she had.

She quietly tiptoed into the bathroom and got changed into some shorts and a sweatshirt. Every day was going to count if she wanted to beat Cinder this time.

Her sister and teammates weren't physically tough enough to handle rigorous training every day, and while they certainly didn't lack the spirit, their bodies just couldn't keep up at the rate hers could. They didn't need daily rigorous training, she did. Her fighting style demanded it.

The mentality carried over to this moment as well, where none of them would think of training the day right after Initiation, she would.

As she stepped out of her room she spotted her familiar fellow blonde, the reason she and her team were here.

"Didn't peg you for the running type playboy, what gives?" she asked him. She never saw him running early last time. Well, except near the end, when he suddenly began to take everything far more seriously.

"This masterpiece doesn't maintain itself," he bragged, causing her to smirk.

"Care to test the 'masterpiece' against something other than yourself?" she asked, goading him into accepting the challenge.

"You never beat me before, what makes you think you will now?" he asked her.

"What makes you think I'm the same?" she returned. If he thought she was just as weak as last time, then he had another thing coming.

He chuckled at her response. "That's right, you're not the same. I learned it the hard way when we fought on Patch."

"When you held my hair hostage you mean."

"You're not still mad about that are you? If you are, we can have a spar to help you vent."

"Ugh, no thanks. Getting trashed without landing a single hit isn't much of a spar, besides, I'm good." she replied. Fighting Jaune was frustrating from what she remembered of the one time he had taken it seriously. He seemed to know her moves inside out and whittled her down with lightning fast, precise blows.

"It gets better, anyways, are you going to stand there and keep yapping, or are we going to run?"

She smirked and gave a short nod and made way outside alongside him as they immediately began their jog.

"How are things with team JNPR?" she asked. "Uh, what I meant was, how are things with JNPR _this time_?"

"They're- okay." he replied, though she wasn't nearly clueless enough to miss the pause.

She raised an eyebrow at him as they jogged, waiting for him to get the hint that she wanted a real answer. He realized a moment after and gave in with a sigh.

"They're annoyingly pushy," he replied. "Nora keeps insisting we're part of a harem for some reason."

Yang stifled a laugh at the words, realizing that it would throw off her breathing. "Well I don't have a problem with it, I always wanted my own harem."

" _Your_ harem? I think you're getting your place mixed up."

"Nope, you spend most of your time getting beat up and doing grunt work, so it's obvious that I'm in charge of everything," she replied with confidence.

He rolled his eyes at her. "Fine, you win. The harem is yours, take good care of them."

"You talk like you're not a part of my harem," she retorted, and smiled when he gave in yet again with a sigh.

"Fine, I'm part of your harem too. Happy?"

She replied with an enthusiastic thumbs-up as they continued jogging in silence for the next ten minutes.

"Jaune?"

"Just ask," he responded.

"Straight to the point, weren't you complaining that _we're_ bad at foreplay?" she pushed.

"I'm good enough to skip past it," he replied. "Are you going to ask me or are we going to keep discussing foreplay for the rest of the run?"

"Fine, fine," she surrendered. "I want to know how many times you've been through this, and what you know about me," she asked. It was important information that could mean the difference between victory and defeat for them.

"As I said yesterday, it's only been a few dozen times," he answered, although she was slightly skeptical of that. "As for you, there isn't much besides the fact that you're the dumbest blonde on Remnant."

" _Second_ dumbest blonde. I'm not the one who came up with that cloud cult theory."

He huffed in response to her flawless logic. "You normally lose an arm while fighting Adam during the fall, and yes, it's because of your fighting style." The words stung more than they should have, but deep down, she knew he was right. She was a one trick pony.

"Well, I guess you could say, I got, 'disarmed'," she replied with a playful smile.

"Yep, since I wasn't around to give you a hand," he replied causing her to stifle yet another laugh for risk of losing her breathing rhythm.

"Wait, seriously? I actually lose an arm?" she asked, curious as to what else he knew.

"If I'm not around, yeah. You lose it most of the time."

"And what about the times I don't?"

He shrugged in response, not the answer she wanted. She raised an eyebrow at him, conveying her dissatisfaction with him.

"Don't give me that look, it's not like I can see everything that happens," he replied, somewhat assuaging her demand for an answer. "Besides, don't you want some actual advice instead?"

She nodded to that; even if he wouldn't tell her what went wrong on some lives, he could at least help her out by teaching her.

"You need to stop charging into combat like an idiot."

"Thanks for stating the obvious,' she sarcastically replied. "How about some details?"

"This isn't the kind of thing I can get across with a talk, we'll need to work on it during training," he replied, causing her smile to pop up again.

"You're going to train us? We asked you so many times before yet you never did, so why now?" she pressed, intent on getting an answer.

To her frustration, he once again simply shrugged in reply.

"Are these glares going to keep coming for the rest of the year?"

"You don't have to keep anymore secrets Jaune, so why are you holding back? You can trust us," she beckoned to him, yet frowned yet again when he simply turned away and continued running at a much faster pace than she could follow.

* * *

"She needs to work on her cardio." The words caused Yang to mumble and groan incoherently as she hung off his shoulder.

"I think she's trying to say that she'll 'whoop your butt' next time," Ruby replied. She wouldn't, not in any test of endurance, but he couldn't complain about the effort she put in. Yang had improved by miles, he was impressed.

"I'm sure she will. You did good Yang, although you might want to get ready for class, we have an hour," he muttered as he passed Yang's bent over form to Weiss and Ruby who promptly guided her to the bathroom.

"See you in class Jaune," Ruby replied as he walked off toward his own room, only to see Ren standing in front of the door looking at him with an inquisitive gaze. More questions, why couldn't things be any easier?

"Well? I'm waiting," he mouthed as he entered his room, Ren a few paces behind him.

"You must be very dedicated to be training on the first day of classes," Ren stated as he met Jaune's gaze.

"Not really, it was mostly an excuse to discuss private affairs," he replied, hoping Ren would take the hint and back off.

"Well then, I suppose it isn't my place to question you on that," Ren responded, although Jaune was sure he caught onto the fact that he was trying to dodge the issue. Ren was observant like that.

"Thanks Ren, let's go grab breakfast once they're up?"

Ren nodded, but Jaune was sure he caught a glimpse of intrigue in his eyes. He had Ren keeping an eye on him now too.

* * *

"And then the hero of the story looked down into the puddle of rainwater and saw himself for what he truly was! In shock, he dropped his loyal swo-"

Blake tuned out Nora's incessant chatter and instead looked around the table. Jaune was sitting still, almost too still, with his fork in his hands as he heard Nora's story. It must have been her imagination, but she could have sworn she saw the fork bending.

"Jaune? Is everything alright?" she asked him, hoping to break him out of his trance like state.

The words had their intended effect as his fork dropped onto the table and he seemed startled when he looked up at her.

"It's fine," the reply came with no hesitation, yet she felt as though something was wrong. She'd have to speak to him about it later.

"Yeah Jaune's fine, he had a rough time managing his harem yesterday, but he's alright now," Nora answered for Jaune, showing an eerie degree of familiarity with him.

"Excuse me? It's _my_ harem, I'm in charge of it," Yang's protest came as she threw a grape at Nora, who promptly ate it mid-flight.

"Right, forgot to mention it, but it looks like I'm in the middle of a power struggle for ownership of my harem," Jaune replied as he went along with this harem nonsense, much to her chagrin. Although it was a better excuse than anything else she could think of.

"Struggle implies it's a contest, news flash, it isn't. I'm in charge," Yang cockily added as Jaune simply gave up and continued eating his waffles.

"So, Nora, are you and Ren in a harem too?" Ruby asked in an awkward tone, hoping to start a conversation. Did her leader even know what a harem was?!

"Yeah, Magnhild and Ren are part of my harem," Nora replied, but quickly glared at Jaune when he raised an amused eyebrow at her. "But we're not together-together!"

Blake nearly choked at hearing her leader's question and the following response from Nora. Nora was crazy from what she remembered, but owning a harem? That went up to a new level of insanity.

"My harem's bigger than yours," Yang teased, promptly earning an elbow from Weiss who had enough.

"Will you stop this indignant talk of harems already? We are not part of any harems, and I certainly do not plan on being in one anytime in the near future," Weiss angrily mouthed, annoyance evident in her tone.

"Come on Weiss, I think you need to 'chill out'," Jaune quipped with a provocative smirk on his face as Yang began giggling at the horrid pun.

"Yeah Weiss, we wouldn't want you to be having a 'meltdown' now, would we?" Yang added.

"You're both going to die horrible deaths; I will ensure this." she hissed, and glared as Yang's incessant giggling had also caused Jaune to begin chuckling.

As he chuckled she saw Jaune look over his shoulder at something, or someone.

"I'm going to ditch my tray and go ahead to class, see you there," he waved as he walked away, straight into Cardin Winchester.

The others were too busy muttering about something to notice, but her sharp senses told her that something was coming.

She paid close attention as Jaune passed the boy, and she raised a brow when he 'accidentally' tripped him.

Cardin fell forward, landing face first onto his tray as Jaune stood over him. The event had now caught the attention of everyone else as Jaune helped the boy up.

A few quiet exchanges of words between them went unheard to everyone else, but it was what Jaune said after that caught everyone's attention.

"On the bright side, at least you got to stuff your face with food right?" he said in a not-so-quiet voice which everyone around them heard, prompting amused mutters and snickers as Jaune left.

Ruby and Yang hadn't seen it, they were too busy talking. Neither had the rest of team JNPR. But she did, and it caused a deeply unsettling feeling within her.

As he tripped Cardin, his eyes held a cold look, one she had seen only when he fought his enemies.

* * *

If anyone told her that it would be Weiss sleeping and her attempting to diligently take notes, she would have laughed at them, yet Ruby was currently sitting at her desk, attempting to make sense of what Professor Port was saying while her partner had her head on the desk, dozing off.

She hadn't managed to learn anything from his poorly delivered tale of fighting a Beowolf, but was scrambling down random notes and points regardless. As the next part of his speech regarding the qualities of a true Huntsman came, she found herself raptly paying attention, each quality resonating within her as Professor Port spoke.

She felt inspired, and determined, she would embody all that a true Hunter needed to be.

"So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits?" His question caused an instant reaction as she immediately raised her hand.

"Me! I do!"

Surely the Professor would pick her for having shown so much enthusiasm?

Unfortunately, Professor Port had different designations.

With a very loud and awkward cough he nearly drowned out Ruby's attempt at volunteering, and looked away from her shamefully, with an almost guilty look on his face.

"Mr. Arc! Is that a hand I see there?! How noble of you to volunteer!"

/-/

Jaune was awoken from his half sleeping state by a gentle nudge from Pyrrha. He knew why he was nudged awake, and there was only one reason that would happen in this class. Port had called on him.

In hindsight, he knew exactly why it was him being called. Ozpin wanted a display of what he was capable of, hence he used Port to get it.

"I think you have the wrong person Professor, I'm pretty sure you meant Cardin," he said, pointing a thumb over his shoulder to the boy who was also sleeping.

Port echoed a resounding laugh. "Mr. Arc, while it greatly pleases me to see a young man of such modesty, I insist you come down here and show us the qualities of a true Huntsman."

He sighed as he stood up, seeing no other way out of this annoyance. Ozpin had likely instructed Port to get him to fight, this was no random event. Still, if Port wanted someone who embodied all the qualities of a true Huntsman, he would get one.

A few moments later he returned with Crocea Mors in hand, although it was mostly for show. Ozpin would certainly get a display today.

Taking a few steps toward the cage, he nodded at Port who swung his axe down on the lock.

"Let the match begin!"

The Boarbatusk immediately charged out against him, about to make contact and send him flying backwards from the force. Except it didn't.

"Fear my special technique! Graceful Flip!"

The audience gasped as Jaune executed a masterfully exaggerated septuple flip over it and landed dextrously on the other side.

"D-did he just flip seven times in that jump?" a student called out.

"He announced his technique too!"

Jaune smirked as he landed. If Ozpin wanted a display, he'd get one, a display of elegant acrobatics.

As the Boarbatusk hit the wall slightly dazed, it turned around and prepared to charge him yet again. He only smiled, and like a charismatic Vacuan matador, he beckoned the beast to come get it.

As it charged, about to make contact, he moved.

/-/

Ruby's mouth was wide open as she saw the Boarbatusk about to hit Jaune full force. At that small distance there wouldn't be nearly enough time to move.

"Elegant Sideways Roll!" he declared as he somehow managed to perform an exaggerated roll out of the way at the last second.

"What on Remnant is he doing?" she asked Weiss who was now awake and also had her jaw dropped.

"I think this might be his attempt at hiding his actual skill," Weiss replied as she nodded at the words, somewhat understanding what Jaune was angling at.

"Whooo! Go Jaune! Do another flip!" Nora yelled from her seat as she began banging on her desk.

Jaune seemingly obliged as he coiled down to the ground and prepared for another move.

"Deadly Stunning Flip!"

"Oh! Did you hear that Ren!? That name means business!" Nora exclaimed to the boy who seemed as though he was quietly contemplating the meaning of life.

"I think he's just adding random names to his moves Nora," Ren replied, although behind his eyes Ruby thought she saw a flash of interest.

Jaune executed yet another flip, this time flipping a total of eight times in mid-air as he landed atop the Boarbatusk, stunning it and driving its tusks into the floor.

"I am _not_ just adding random names to my moves!" he protested.

"Point taken," Ren replied as he realized the Boarbatusk was indeed stunned.

"I'm jealous, how does he flip eight times? I can barely manage five," Blake stated as she paid close attention to his moves.

"Well, he did say he's a fast learner," Yang replied.

The class gasped, cheered and waited with baited breath as Jaune performed one announced acrobatic move after the other, aimed at dismantling the poor Grimm.

Except, it didn't.

One minute turned to five, which soon turned to ten, as the students grew silent at how long the match was taking. It was clear to Ruby that Jaune had no interest in actually winning the fight, instead focusing on displaying his 'acrobatics'.

Behind his desk Professor Port seemed stuck in a state of disbelief, yet the festivities had gone on long enough. Every man has a limit to his patience after all.

"Mr. Arc! This match has gone on long enough, end it within the next thirty seconds or I shall intervene!" Professor Port exclaimed, although she detected a hint of amusement in his voice. Was he enjoying this?

"Alright, but Professor, I warn you, I'll have to use my ultimate attack," Jaune replied, causing various murmurs among the class.

"Have no worry my boy, this class is built to withstand such power, now, show us what a true Huntsman can do!" the Professor exclaimed, seemingly eager to see what Jaune was capable of.

"He has an ultimate attack?" Yang asked, promptly receiving a smack to the back of the head from Weiss.

"No you dunce, don't you think we'd know if he did?" Weiss whispered to Yang. Good point. If Jaune really did have an ultimate attack, he would have used it last time. Still, this was worth seeing.

The class gasped as Jaune drew Crocea Mors for the first time in the fight, pointing it toward the tired Boarbatusk as he took a stance.

"He actually drew his sword!" a student exclaimed.

"This is the end! Ultimate technique: Final Slash of Death!"

"C-crap! Is it safe to be in here?!" a student exclaimed in fear.

"What if the technique affects us too?!" another added.

With a furious motion Jaune jumped into the air, all of one foot, as he clumsily swung his sword into the Boarbatusk's skull.

The Grimm released a final breath as it collapsed onto the ground, having been slain.

"Eh?" Ruby whined, cutting through the hopeless silence that followed.

"This is unfair! Where are the fireworks?! Where's the destruction and doom!? I want a refund!" Nora exclaimed as the class burst into a furious uproar at the letdown.

Professor Port himself was stuck between laughing or reprimanding Jaune for his actions, but instead chose to simply take a long swig of his coffee.

"Well, I didn't lie. The technique _did_ kill the Grimm didn't it?" he rhetorically added, still producing grumbles from the class who were a little too hyped up than normal.

"Class dismissed," Professor Port said as he left the room, coffee in hand, a contemplative look on his face.

* * *

"You certainly have a very- unorthodox style of fighting Jaune," Pyrrha muttered as the eight of them, teams RWBY and JNPR walked down the hallway on their way to Combat Class.

"It's an art," he replied, much to her disappointment. Talking to her partner was going to be a difficult affair, yet she wouldn't give up. He had proven that he was capable of getting along with his team; that was something she didn't want to give up on.

"The art of inefficient, wasted movements?" Ren asked, earning a glare from Jaune. "There's something strange about your style. You waste a lot of movement, yet you're too skilled."

"I don't know what you're talking about, my style is perfect as is," Jaune mouthed, attempting to defend his pride it seemed.

"You're capable of performing eight flips in one jump, yet you insist on announcing your attacks, wasting energy and fooling around. In other words, you're too skilled to be making those amateur mistakes," Ren explained. It was a good point, and while flips and gymnastics weren't Pyrrha's specialty, even she could see what Ren meant in hindsight.

"Are you implying that I'm somehow holding back my real power?" Jaune asked.

"Never mind," Ren replied, likely discovering how ridiculous the idea sounded. Yet she was certain she saw a flash of scepticism in Ren's eyes as he turned them away from Jaune.

"So, Yang, how was your run with Jaune?" she asked, hoping to get some them talking. Unfortunately, she knew little of team RWBY save for their names and the fact that they were very close to his partner- for some unknown reason.

"It was alright, we mostly talked about foreplay," Yang replied, causing Pyrrha to stammer and choke on air as a light blush overtook her face.

"Really? I had a dream about you two running," Nora added. A dream? Her teammate seemed nice, but was a little loose in the head if she depended on dreams for counsel.

"You did? What'd you see?" Yang asked Nora.

"I couldn't get a clear look, but I think you were all hot and wet and Jaune had to carry you off. Apparently you couldn't deal with his stamina," Nora replied causing Yang's eyes to suddenly widen for some reason.

Yang shared an awkward glance with Jaune as she attempted to communicate something to him through a combination of glares, eyebrow twitches and waggles. If Jaune's face was any indication, the message had spectacularly failed.

"Oh look, it's the Headmaster!" Nora exclaimed. Pyrrha turned to see, and true enough there he was, Headmaster Ozpin, heading toward them.

She looked to her right to see Jaune suddenly walking perfectly level alongside them, as far away as possible from the Headmaster.

/-/

 _'Maybe he'll ignore me if I hide behind my team.'_

"Mr. Arc, how pleasant to see you here." Ozpin announced as he attempted to peer past team JNPR.

Jaune internally cursed as that idea went out the window.

"While I'm flattered to be the center of your attention, you happen to be looking past my team, you could at least say hi," he replied.

Ozpin cleared his throat at the call out and reacted appropriately, it was hard to faze the Headmaster of Beacon Academy.

"Hello," he replied, giving them a look which seemed to convey that he wanted a private conversation.

"We'll see you at lunch Jaune, take care," Ren stated as he dragged Nora and a reluctant Pyrrha off to the Dining Hall. What a great friend Ren was.

"You also forgot to say hi to team RWBY," he added, hoping they would save him from the onslaught.

"They seem to have already left Mr. Arc," Ozpin replied as Jaune looked over his shoulder to confirm their disappearance. The Headmaster hit him with a stern gaze. "To business then?"

"To business it is," Jaune resigned as he prepared himself for Ozpin's interrogation.

"News of your display during Professor Port's class has spread throughout the school rather quickly," Ozpin stated.

"As it should of course. It's an art I don't often allow others to see," he explained, hoping that Ozpin's attention would go the wrong way.

"Ah yes, Professor Port had quite some words to say about your 'art'. I believe they included the phrases 'incredibly effective', 'much like myself when I was a young man', and I quote, 'the embodiment of a true Huntsman'."

"Only the truly talented can see the brilliance of my elegant style," he mouthed off, hoping to give Ozpin the wrong message.

"I see, I hope you will not mind then Mr. Arc, if I question the fact that your 'acrobatics' are the limit of your potential?"

"I _do_ mind, in fact it's gravely insulting to me," Jaune countered, suppressing a smirk when Ozpin was taken aback by the comment. "Are you implying that my magnificent display of agility isn't satisfactory?"

"No Mr. Arc, what I'm implying is that you are capable of much more." It was a minor hope, but it didn't pan out. Ozpin saw right through his attempt to steer the discussion elsewhere.

"I'm already perfect," he retorted, attempting to make himself appear the arrogant bumbling fool. He had already drawn Ozpin's attention during their very first meeting, and while he couldn't get rid of it, he could certainly direct the attention onto something of his own choosing.

Ozpin cleared his throat before he spoke. "Of course, although I will eagerly be waiting to see the results of your 'perfection' in tomorrow's Combat Class."

"You can count on it Ozpin," he replied with a genuine smile. The ball was in his court and all he had to do was miserably fail his spar in tomorrow's Combat Class for Ozpin's interest to subside.

Hopefully he'd be matched with a tough opponent.

* * *

Lunch had been the typical affair it always was, with Nora recounting dreams of things she physically shouldn't have known, and Yang's terrible puns which nearly caused her mind to seize up. Now she was seated at a table in Beacon's Library, sifting through the pages of the first volume of Ninjas of Love, bored out of her mind since she had read the sequel in her past life.

"Didn't you finish reading that?" the voice nearly startled her, yet she knew who it belonged to. Jaune always had the unfair ability of sneaking up on her.

"I did, but seeing as I have nothing better to do, I thought I would give it another look," she replied. "Have you ever had the chance to read them?"

"Not really, leisurely reading tends to be at the bottom of my to-do list," he replied as he sat opposite to her.

"I can see why, I can relate- somewhat," she added upon realizing that her life likely paled in comparison to the experiences he had gone through. "Your schedule doesn't leave a lot of time to read, right?"

He nodded in response.

She looked around, making sure that there were no potential eavesdroppers around before she could talk.

"It's safe, this place always is; you picked the best spot for quiet reading," he explained. Good, she wanted to get right to the point.

"Yang says you're going to be training us, can you tell us when?"

"Eight o' clock near the edge of the Emerald forest,"

"What are you going to be teaching us?" she asked, interested in knowing what the regimen would be ahead of time.

"Practical combat scenarios, you'll see." What did he mean by that? She sighed and gave up on the thought of trying to get the answer out of him. If Jaune didn't want to answer, nothing on Remnant could make him.

"Fine, but I did have a few other concerns."

"A few?" he asked with a raised eyebrow, making her somehow feel as though she was stepping into a minefield. "Fine, what is it?"

"What's the matter with you and Cardin?" she asked, levelling a glare at him as she spoke.

"I thought you hated him?"

"I do, but not nearly enough to like what I saw you doing to him," she scolded.

"I'm just messing around with him, we're buddies, don't worry," he replied, although she clearly didn't buy it. "If it bothers you _that_ much, I'll tone it down."

She reluctantly accepted the assurance, although a small part of her still recalled the scary look he held in his eyes when he tripped Cardin. She couldn't exactly bring that up to Jaune, since it would make her sound crazy, but it was still there. For now, she would simply have to trust in him.

"What's the other concern?" He should have known what it was the moment she brought up the issue of concerns. Was he really expecting them to buy it?

"Be honest, how many times have you really been through this?"

/-/

It was a poorly uttered excuse, yet they had been considerate enough to let it drop when he initially said it, though he knew it wouldn't remain dropped for long. Least of all when it came to Blake who was by far the most observant of them.

"It's not important," he explained away, trying to get her to drop it.

"It is and you know it. Jaune, why are you keeping secrets from us? We're in this _with_ you, not against you," she consoled.

It was a good explanation, and the rational part of him was screaming to tell her everything, yet he wouldn't. He wasn't ready or willing to share everything, neither was he willing to drop such a revelation on them. They didn't deserve it.

"It's not that- I'm just, not ready," he quietly said. "Not yet."

Blake looked disappointed, yet at the same time her eyes held a measure of understanding.

"I know what you've been through, and I understand that it can't have been easy, but you're here now, and we're with you, so please, just tell us, we need to know." She was far too understanding, far more than he felt he deserved. It couldn't be so bad, could it?

"Three-" He hesitated, perhaps it was the fact that it hurt so much, or perhaps it was the issue of never truly trusting anyone.

"It's okay Jaune," she whispered as she placed a hand atop his shoulder, her eyes full of sympathy.

"-hundred."

It came out slower than he would have liked, but the results were evident. He felt a strange sense of guilt at seeing her face scrunch up for a split moment. Pity; it was something he didn't want or need, not when it caused her to feel his pain as well.

"I'm sorry, I can't imagine what it must have felt like to go through all that," her words rang through his head. It was an attempt at consoling him, yet he felt empty. He had gone through the same process many times before, and while the topic of sympathy was usually a lie, the sympathy rendered to him was the same. It never amounted to anything.

He was glad he didn't tell her it was three thousand.

* * *

"Now, I know what you're thinking, that this training is ridiculous, but I assure you, it isn't." Yang heard him explain. How was this _not_ supposed to be ridiculous?

"You're wearing a cheap imitation outfit of Roman Torchwick with a fake wooden cane and attached Dust gun, and you want us to take this seriously?" Weiss asked. The heiress was right, Yang had a hard time holding her laughter in at seeing the cheap white painted trench coat and hat Jaune was wearing.

"Just trust me on this," he replied. Sure, why not?

"Alright, me first," Yang demanded as she stepped forward, Ember Celica at the ready.

"Fine, ready whenever you are," he calmly stated as he began whirling the wooden cane around in a manner shockingly similar to Torchwick.

She charged in, firing two shots at him, yet, instead of dodging them like he normally would he instead twirled the cane around deflecting the shots. When did he learn Torchwick's fighting style?

"You know how to fight like Torchwick too?!" she exclaimed, disbelief evident in her voice.

"Pay attention," he sharply reprimanded while firing two shots at her. Okay, he definitely knew how to fight like Torchwick.

She grunted as the shots impacted against her Aura, but instead decided to charge on through. Despite what Jaune had told her about not charging in like an idiot, she knew that Torchwick was the kind of fighter you needed to do that against. A moment later when she barrelled toward him, gauntlets prepared to deliver the beatdown, she caught a smile on his face telling her that she had made the right choice.

She launched a flurry of blows so fast that they were nearly invisible to normal people, and if the look on Jaune's face was any indicator, he too was caught off guard by how much she had improved over the past year.

To her annoyance however, he still ended up dodging all of her blows.

"Hey! No fair! Torchwick would have been dead just now!" she exclaimed, irritated that 'Torchwick' somehow survived.

"I'm not prepared to go _that_ far in pursuit of an acting award Yang," he replied. "You win."

"Damn right I do," she smugly announced. "How was I?"

"Heck of a lot better than I thought was possible, keep it up," he praised. It was genuine praise, and it had her feeling pumped up and full of herself. "Don't let it get to your head."

She pouted at his shutdown of her victory moment as she backed off and went to sit next to the rest of her team.

"While Yang's a bit of a special case," words which caused her to pompously raise her head, "Torchwick isn't that easy to beat. His main specialty's fighting at range, so if you're planning on taking him on there, be ready to have lots of explosive rounds fired at you."

"So our best bet's to charge him up-close?" Ruby asked.

"Exactly, while he's still no slouch, it's just easier to take him on in a melee."

"Okay, we get it, but Torchwick's easy, let's move onto Adam or Neo," she whined, clearly impatient at being unable to face her two biggest hurdles.

"Alright then, Neo it is," he mouthed while going off behind a tree to change. This would be good. Going from easiest to hardest was a good way of showing them who they really needed to watch out for.

/-/

They burst out laughing at him, a fact which made him want to sic the real Neo on them.

"Oh! you look adorable Jaune! That pink umbrella and white coat really suit you," Yang giggled.

"The heels look particularly good on you as well," Weiss muttered behind a stifled laugh.

Jaune sighed at their antics, yet he couldn't help but betray a smile; this was fun.

"Who's up next?" he asked, inviting a challenger to come forward.

"I am," Weiss declared as she stepped forward, Myrtenaster in hand. She would rue the day she decided to make fun of his expertly crafted costume.

"Go ahead, ready whenever you are," he said as he began a confident catwalk eerily similar to Neo.

"You can't be serious?" Weiss muttered barely concealing a laugh.

"Try me."

She decided to oblige, coming in with numerous lightning fast strikes even faster than Yang which were all targeted at his weak points, or 'Neo's' weak points as it were.

She was about to go in for a bull rush, planning on attacking 'Neo' with a flurry of blows which would overwhelm, yet they never came.

Jaune knew Neo's style, and she had the perfect counter for bull rushers. Neo would make Weiss pay for trying that against her, and 'Neo' was going to make her pay for it here.

With a sudden thrust a raggedy umbrella shot out at Weiss striking her square in the face.

"Mrphll-" her garbled grunt sounded. Good, she was going to pay for trying that.

With memorized movements he sauntered forward, launching a series of kicks, umbrella thrusts and grapples which slammed Weiss onto the ground, hard.

He was about to stab the pointy sharpened end of the umbrella down onto her, when he suddenly saw a number of glyphs around him, slowly appearing two at a time. He made way to do what Neo would do and tried moving out of the way, except, they kept appearing.

"W-what the?! How many glyphs are you making Weiss?" he asked, surprise and terror growing in his voice as the number of glyphs began to cover a massive amount of ground. She was never _this_ strong before.

"Only a hundred," she replied with a pleased smile, much to his terror. It was over, no way was Neo beating this.

"You win, Neo's dead," he desperately pleaded.

"Uhm- Jaune, I can't cancel glyphs which are at that stage."

Even he couldn't dodge this, there was simply no room. Weiss had outdone herself.

"Just how strong did you all become?!"

/-/

"I said I was sorry, just how long are you going to keep glaring at me?" Blake heard Weiss ask.

"As long as I want," Jaune replied in a childishly hurt manner. "Do you know how long it took to get out of all that ice?"

"I'm the one that helped you out of it!" Weiss defended.

Blake shook her head at their antics and stepped forward, Gambol Shroud in hand. "I'm next, I want to fight Adam."

"Never thought I'd hear that coming from you," Jaune replied. Did the have some hidden meaning behind them?

"Just get ready, we've wasted enough time here for tonight," she replied while he went behind a tree to get changed into his 'Adam' outfit. She was impatient, desperate to try her hand at fighting Adam.

He came out from behind and caused her jaw to drop.

"I know, I know, I _really_ outdid myself on this one," Jaune commented as he took a position a few dozen feet away from Blake. His cheap paper mask and rugged homeless trench coat flapping about in the wind.

"Adam would kill himself if he saw you wearing that and claiming to be an imitation," Blake quipped as she took a stance.

"Another joke? Well, well, colour me impressed Blake, never knew you had it in you," he jibed much to her annoyance. Of course she had a sense of humour, one which rarely came out, but it was still there.

"Can we just start?" she asked, impatient to test her new skills.

"Sure, come at me."

On his signal she drew Gambol Shroud and charged at him. He drew the wooden sword from its sheath in an attempt to deflect the attack, but was instead left surprised as she ignored it outright and instead went for his legs. With practiced speed and precision she launched a flurry of fast blows directly toward his feet, the one place where 'Adam's' style had a hard time parrying with his blade.

"Ouch, you're going to break my legs if you keep this up," he whined as he took a step back in a manner identical to Adam's style.

"I'm sure Nora would be proud," she returned while firing shots at his legs, ones he was forced to dodge lest they hit him.

He continued being pushed back for a few more moments, until he suddenly stopped dead in his tracks, allowing a shot to hit him. Blake's eyes narrowed at him as he suddenly took a slightly different stance.

"Torchwick and Neo are good, but Adam?" His eyes narrowed. "He's on a whole different level."

Suddenly 'Adam' burst forward in a flash of speed and began launching dozens of lightning fast draw cuts toward her. She winced as quite a few of the strikes went past her guard and impacted hard against her Aura, and despite its protection, she still felt the concussive force behind them.

She was about to attempt a retaliation when the onslaught suddenly stopped. She looked to Jaune to see him taking off the mask and throwing the sword down.

"You're dead," came his cold reply. She might have protested the decision, but knew it was true. Getting hit by a wooden sword a dozen times might not have done anything to her, but what if it was Wilt instead?

It was disappointing, and a part of her felt crushed at the loss. Weiss and Yang had won their fights, why couldn't she win hers? Was Adam truly that deadly?

As she looked to Jaune, hoping for an answer she saw the same look on his face. Resignation.

She wouldn't let it stay there.

"You died to him quite a few times didn't you?" It was more of a statement than a question, and from the look on his face, Jaune knew it as well.

/-/

He merely responded with a slow nod.

"Yet you still pushed on didn't you? You died each time, yet you kept coming back up," she spoke as she looked him in the eyes.

"Your point?"

"If you never gave up, then neither will I. I'll keep training until I- no, _we_ can beat him." she continued. "That goes for Cinder too, if you kept pressing forward, then so can we."

"I appreciate the enthusiasm, but it isn't so-"

"Shut it playboy, no buts! You heard Blake, we'll keep moving forward and we won't stop no matter what!" Yang exclaimed. It caused a strange pain within him, yet he didn't shy away this time, since the pain came accompanied with something pleasant.

"That's right Jaune, we're going to keep trying, so you better keep up!" Ruby cheered with a smile.

"Ugh- you three have been watching too many Mistralian shows, this is even worse than those cheesy endings they have," Weiss complained. "But- Ruby's right, you had better keep up with us Arc."

"You know I wasn't going to give up, with or without your poorly planned motivational speech right?"

"If you wanted to give up, you would've done it three hundred tries ago," she added, noticing the shocked looks on the faces of her teammates.

"Three hundred-" Yang muttered.

"It's just a number, I'm fine," he replied, cutting Yang off. He didn't see what the fuss was about, he got infinite chances after all.

"You're not," Ruby muttered as she gripped his shirt and looked up at him. "You're not fine- but we're going to make it better." determined silver eyes locked onto his own.

"We're going to win this time."

* * *

Emotional fools, the lot of them. Yet he couldn't find it in himself to rebuke them, neither could he find it in himself to reject their stupid optimism. He had forgotten what it felt like, the feeling of pure, unbridled hope. It was dangerous, but so sickeningly addicting.

After they finished he told them that he would see them tomorrow, the reason being his current whereabouts; in front of a White Fang warehouse.

The place was far more important than the White Fang themselves realized, as it was a storehouse for the Bullheads they would use to off-load Grimm onto Amity Colosseum.

Without this warehouse the White Fang would have no way of letting non-airborne Grimm into Amity, and would thus buy Ironwood and the Hunters some valuable response time.

The plan was simple, get in, sabotage the Bullheads, and leave before the Fang suspected anything, a routine plan of action he had carried out thousands of times before in most loops. Although he had never tried it on day one of Beacon.

He slipped in through an open window and landed on the other side, spotting only a few lookouts playing cards around a table, all of them facing away from him. Behind them was a door leading to the foreman's office, and from the sounds of it, quite a few people were inside, a supervisor perhaps? He quietly made past them, using the natural cover provided by the many stacks of crates.

Once near the Bullheads he pulled out a wrench he brought along with him and slowly began to unscrew the cover over the control panel of the first one, silently disabling key electronic components as he removed the cover.

He continued the process for the remaining eight Bullheads and when finished placed the covers back on. He finally began to sneak out, opting to go out the way he came, through the window. As his hand pressed down on the window frame his blood ran cold as it suddenly cracked under his weight, sending him tumbling down to the floor.

"What the?!-" one of the White Fang guards exclaimed as they all turned around to look at him. "I-intruder!"

Fate had seen fit to curse him once again. He swore at it as he dashed toward the three frightened guards who were caught unaware.

Laying two palms onto the heads of two of them, he sent a pulse of Aura inside and pushed them to the side as they screeched in pain. The last one was shaking where he stood, an easy kill. He charged an Aura infused knife hand into the scum's throat, relaxing as he hit the ground at the same time as the heads of his friends exploded.

He turned about, intent on leaving before any more trouble came his way. Hopefully the White Fang wouldn't look too deeply into the Bullheads, and even if they did, the tampering he did was so minor that only a master engineer could spot it.

He made way to leave as the door to the foreman's office opened, sounding familiar steps which made his blood freeze. He quickly attempted to dash away only for a hail of Dust rounds to sail toward him from behind, forcing him to duck behind a stack of crates.

"Come out human, you're surrounded with no way of escaping."

As he heard the sound of a sword leaving its sheath Jaune pondered on a way of permanently killing Fate.

What made it think that making him encounter Adam here was a good idea?

* * *

 **A/N: Sincere apologies to all my readers for the unacceptable delay. No excuse lessens the impact of this transgression, yet I believe you deserve to know.  
**

 **I typically write my chapters a day or two before the planned release date, however due to a personal emergency I was forced to up and leave town for an entire week, only making it back on Tuesday the 18th. From there I had to spend the next few days running around juggling paperwork and only got to write this chapter today.**

 **Once again sincere apologies. From now on there won't be a planned release date, yet I will try to release chapters weekly. Reason for this being that I don't want to make anymore promises after having already broken two.**


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